


Astriferous Sea (🐟)

by hrhbrittany, Sismyn



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Beards (Relationships), But with a happy ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, The Little Mermaid HCA, background maria/isobel, background max/liz, just in case, mermaid au, self-harm tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2020-06-24 12:36:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19723825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hrhbrittany/pseuds/hrhbrittany, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sismyn/pseuds/Sismyn
Summary: Alex has always been the baby among the sirens in the Dead Sea. Michael is performing beard services for his sister. Communication is a little wishy-washy.





	1. Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A song for you for this? 10,000 Emerald Pools

* * *

**Alex (Abyssal Tail) (🎸)**

Alex was born the fourth and last son to the King of the Dead Sea. Like every siren, he was born with scales black as night. Unlike every siren, he didn't grow out of this coloring, not when he began to lose his baby fat, not when he learned to fight, not when he finally got to break the upper stratus of the sea and surface.

None of his family ever really stopped treating him like a baby. The rest of them flashed gray or cobalt or even white. Even with his dark scales, he was fully grown, no matter how much his brothers teased him and made him out to be a runt. They were each essentially the same size, give or take some height or width.

He preferred his brothers over either of his parents. 

Sure, his mother loved him, but she was also the main culprit of treating Alex like a child. She would send him off to collect stones if she even let him out of her sight. 

His father, on the other hand, had apparently determined his baby-black tail was due to a lack of toughness on Alex's part, and therefore set him on rigorous training as if more muscle mass would change the color of his scales. It didn't, but there was always more that Alex could be doing, according to the king.

Nothing lived in the Dead Sea aside from his family, which meant that they had to go to shore to hunt for food. Alex was not allowed along for nearly two decades. Admittedly, it was not as fun as he expected. It was a lot of waiting around for animals to come close enough to the water for he or one of the others to lunge up from the water and drag it down. 

He became used to four-legged prey, so when he saw a small group on two legs each that didn't look unlike his family, at least from the waist up, he couldn't help but stare from a safe distance as the trio ambled along the rocks. 

Humans, he learned from his brothers, were dangerous and not good to eat, anyway, their father said. They didn't swim well, only floated, especially on large wooden contraptions that were later pointed out to him (so that he could avoid them). 

Despite being warned away, Alex liked to find the ships and swim along. He even found that he could take a ride if he found a good handhold. 

His father didn't take well to that news. Alex thought he'd take his arm off given the vice grip. He insisted that humans were dangerous and better off dead, so if Alex couldn't kill them, he ought to stay away. 

He didn't listen, of course; he just got better at being stealthy about it. 

One small ship became his particular favorite to follow. It usually only had three occupants, and they usually sat on the deck to argue and cajole in a tongue Alex couldn't quite understand. 

Once, he heard:

"Why did you bring your guitar?"

"So that I don't have to listen to you two."

"Play us a song, then."

Alex grabbed on to the ship curiously, as the trio didn't usually stop talking until late into the night, and he gasped when he heard the sound that issued from above. It was singing without a voice. How did they make such a noise?

"Well, thank you for being impressed."

"That wasn't either of us. That sounded like it came from over the side."

He heard footsteps and dove before he could be seen. They were definitely his favorite.

* * *

Another time, he floated alongside the same ship at twilight. One of the men stared out at the horizon from a porthole, and Alex decided that he had to be the most beautiful human in the world. His hair curled, impossible under water, but he swayed slightly as if he was caught in a current all the same. His eyes caught on Alex, and he rubbed at them. 

"I am... so drunk." The man leaned on his elbow just as Alex realized he was seen and made to dive down. "Wait, wait! Are you real?" He sunk so just his eyes remained above the surface. "Damn it, for once a vision I'll be sorry to be rid of."

Alex rose slightly so that his head turn was visible. 

"My _god_ , you are gorgeous. Oh--" He turned away from the opening and held out an odd piece of wood when he turned back. "I shall serenade you, even if you aren't real."

The man withdrew slightly and Alex's favorite sound diffused from the porthole. He rested his chin on his arms and listened contentedly. 

"That's lovely," came a voice from deeper inside the ship. The woman. The music stopped and Alex frowned. 

"It's for him."

"Who?"

Alex hid beneath the waves and swam closer so that he could only be seen if they looked straight down. They never did.

"No one's there, Michael. How much have you drank?"

" _Far_ too much for polite company. Will you bring me another?" There was a pause, then an indignant noise. "Why this?"

"I'll bring you some water, and then you should sleep. We'll head back in the morning. It'd be nice for you to navigate fully aware. I don't want to end up on the opposite shore again."

Alex heard the man make a noise that he couldn't describe except that it was funny, and he covered his mouth to keep from laughing. "That was one time, and I was handed the map upside down, but fine. Water, please."

Footsteps receded then returned to the porthole where the man poked his head out and addressed the sea. "I would have liked to play for you more, but I am forced to bed and bid you goodnight, wherever you are."

Alex rested his head against the planks, sighing along with the retreating human. They would still be there in the morning, so he went home for the night.

* * *

**Michael (Red Sky at Morning) (🚢)**

Ever since moving to Salt Resort for his sister-in-law's research, Michael spent quality time every Monday and Thursday (and occasionally into the next day) aboard a petty dhow on the Dead Sea with his two blood siblings. 

Max was married to the sister-in-law in question, Liz. Max's twin Isobel had a far more complex situation that Michael was graciously helping her with: she was in love with a woman, and that was frowned upon in most societies, including the one they lived in. Michael helped by pretending to be Maria's betrothed in place of his sister. This involved nearly no effort on his part. Because they were not yet married, the girls roomed together, but there was only so long before that had to change. 

Michael was drinking the previous night because they'd finally been forced to announce a date. It wasn't that they'd _actually_ be knotted together; Isobel would be signing her own name beside Maria's, and Michael wouldn't sign at all. No, it was that he was going to have to let Maria in his room every night until there was no chance of prying eyes catching them apart and she could go back to Isobel right next door. Worse than that, of course, he was going to have a much harder time finding someone of his own with a fake ring on his finger. 

And so, Michael had been caught playing guitar for the Dead Sea while drunk, something Isobel teased him endlessly for. 

"It's your fault," he told her the next morning, squinting at the sunrise. He was as aware as could be expected. "Yours and Maria's."

"They don't drive you to drinking," Max said reasonably. "You do that yourself."

"Yes, but all of you being in love, can you blame me for wanting someone for myself? My always having to be around Maria... I imagined the most beautiful man. I think. I don't entirely recall how he looked."

"I am _so_ sorry," Isobel said, rolling her eyes. "If I could have her around _me_ all the time, I would, believe me."

Michael could see Max tuning them out as he focused on his manuscript, so he focused on his sister. "I wouldn't mind a woman either, but if I have a man, we can spouse-swap without suspicion. That makes the most sense."

"Any old man?"

"Well, not _old_."

"Any young man?"

"He'd have to be quite pleasing to the eye, and sharp so he can keep up with me, and like my music."

"You're impossible."

"And Salt Resort is extremely low on suitable candidates." He slumped against the railing with a great sigh and searched the waves. "I'll use my imagination instead."

"So long as you don't use it on Maria."

Michael rolled his eyes and nearly missed the night-black tail that breached the water not far from their ship. He leaned farther over. "Uh, we're on the _Dead_ Sea, right?"

"Yes, Michael," Isobel said, eyeing him blearily. "And we ought to be heading back. Why?"

"I thought I saw a fish. But a gargantuan fish."

"First a man, now a fish," Max said, tuned back in and carefully putting his parchment into a waterproof bag for safekeeping. "Sleep more, drink less."

There were storm clouds gathering on the horizon, and they wanted to beat the rain. He grumbled and went below deck to get his guitar in easy reach before he took the wheel and sailed them home. He'd hardly grabbed it when the ship veered and made him stumble. 

"Max, don't do that!" Michael shouted.

"I'm not touching anything!" he shouted back.

The ship shuddered in the opposite direction, and he cracked his head against the floor with a groan. He could barely hear his siblings swearing and calling for him over the ringing in his skull. Max found him and pulled him up, his bag full of paper across his chest. Somehow, he kept ahold of his instrument.

"We're sinking," Max said helpfully.

"Damn it," Michael said brightly. "I'm dizzy."

"What happened?"

"Fell headfirst."

Max helped him back up to the top of the stairs. "He hit his head," he explained to Isobel, who immediately began to search through his hair for the wound with a click of her tongue. 

"Not now." Michael waved her away. "Flares?"

"We set one off already, but we're taking on water fast. You can keep your head above water, right?"

"It's not so difficult here," he said. 

Sea water flowed over the deck, which shook once more for good measure, and all three of them lost their footing and swore.

"Just float," Max told Isobel as he paddled over to Michael, who flinched the moment his head touched the water. "Towards the resort if you can."

"Directional floating. Great. _Love_ this."

"Stings bad. And I think I'm concussed," Michael said, not quite able to both keep himself upright and float directionally. 

"I got you. Your guitar is already wet, Michael, use it to balance or leave it so I can help you."

"No," he said stubbornly, lifting it higher.

Quite suddenly, he was moving very quickly away from his siblings, a pair of strong arms around his middle. 

"Michael!"

* * *

**Alex (Sapphire Sea) (Baewatch)**

They'd be fine, his father had assured Alex with a curl of his lip. They could float without a ship. What was he so obsessed with the humans for, anyway? (Why was he so _happy_ about them?)

His father had followed him and sunk the ship on his own (help or stay back!), and he had left Alex there to watch as the three humans treaded water. One was having much more trouble than the others, thrashing slightly and only using his elbows. His favorite human-- Alex looked around. The king would expect him home soon, but... He could take him to dry land, at least. 

He grabbed the man bodily and swam, slowing only when he reached the shallows. When feet were planted firmly, Alex peeked above the surface. The man looked between him and where they'd come from in utter confusion, wooden instrument held high above his head with both arms. 

"You're so fast," he said finally, focusing on Alex. "That's amazing."

Alex sunk slightly to hide his blush. He was proud of his speed. He was faster than any of his brothers and his father. It was how he won, though they always claimed they were going easy on him.

This close, Alex had no doubt that this was the most beautiful human. His eyes, his face with an expression softened from his earlier bewilderment-- Alex wanted to touch him to reassure him, but he thought he might scare him with his webbed claws. 

The man walked carefully backwards until he could sit and set down the instrument. He looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. "Will you get my siblings, too, please? I'm concussed, I need them."

He understood more or less what he was asking, but he wasn't sure he had enough time before his waiting punishment got worse. The siblings in question continued to shout for their brother. 

Alex followed his gaze to the sky, then turned to look at them, then back to the man. He only had to smile, and Alex was convinced. Alex nodded.

If he used one arm for each of them, he'd only have to make one, slightly longer trip. He decided it'd be best to just leave them with their brother. He didn't peek again until he was a safe distance away.

They fawned over his favorite human; the woman searched through his hair, and the man held his wrist, thumb pressed in. Alex mimicked the action on his own wrist, and after a moment, he felt his pulse, but he wasn't sure what exactly the point of doing so was. 

He watched a moment longer until the man swatted them both away and caught Alex's eye. The man waved at him and tried to call him back.

There was lightning nearby, and the clouds above cracked open a deluge. Alex ducked beneath the waves without answering and headed home as quickly as he could.

His punishment, fortunately, was his mother's decision, and he was sent to gather dark rocks for the rest of the day. They used them to build structures, but he wasn't sure why they needed more since it was just the six of them, and there was already plenty of room for quadruple that number. He supposed that was why it was a punishment.

Somewhere to the far north, in another sea, there were more of their kind, but they didn't get along with his father. In fact, the way his mother described it, it seemed like he'd been chased away. 

It made sense to Alex. He didn't even know how his own family got along with him.

Soon enough, though, Alex's oldest two brothers were going to travel north to find mates and populate the Dead Sea with little mermers. Maybe then he wouldn't be the baby anymore. 

He wondered if he'd be sent in a couple of years along with Flint, his brother nearest in age, or if he'd have to wait longer because of his scale color. Alex would be okay with that. He didn't want a mate, not of the sort his father was recommending, anyway. A maid. A lady.

Alex's thoughts drifted back to the man from the ship. If he had to spend extended amounts of time with someone, he was sure he'd prefer him over anyone else. Briefly he questioned if humans even mated, but he thought they must, as there were apparently so many of them. Could humans and sirens even mate? They could barely communicate.

That had to be the first order of finding the answer to his question. Learn to communicate with the humans. Alex could do that.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some macabre stuff. Some anxiety is had. Racist Hank is a racist. This is probably the longest part. Song... idk I've been listening to no plans by hozier for approximately a week straight so

* * *

**Michael (Is There A Cure For Pining?) (The I Want Song)**

Michael would not shut up about his so-called lifesaver, even though everyone else insisted they would have gotten him to dry land eventually. He asked around Salt Resort for men matching his description, but no one had ever seen anyone like him. 

He laid on the floor in the study after two days of fruitless searching (and plenty of congratulations on setting a date for the wedding that only served to annoy him). 

Liz sat beside him. "This is very improper."

"I don't care."

She gave him a small smile and leaned on her fist. "Why does this man have you so gone? Max would have swam you to shore. Maria and I were there with a dinghy within twenty minutes."

"Max would have made me leave my guitar. And this man was going to let them float out there once I was safe, but I asked him to get them and he did. And then it started pouring, what if you hadn't been able to find us?" Michael reached up and put a hand on her shoulder. "And he was the most beautiful person I have ever laid eyes on. I can't believe he's not staying here at the resort."

Liz tapped her lips in consideration. "Perhaps he's an Olympic swimmer staying at another location. Windburn Resort would be suitably fancy for an Olympian. It's about ten miles to the south. Fast as you say he is, that'd probably be nothing to him."

Michael sat up with a nod. "What did Max even do to deserve a woman as smart as you? I'll send a telegram. Thank you."

She grinned and left him to it. 

He received a response within two hours, but to his disappointment, Windburn didn't have anyone staying at their resort matching the description, either.

He found Maria and Isobel on the deck and pushed in between them, earning him an indignant squawk from each of them.

"I will never find love," he announced with melancholy.

"If you ever sit between us again, you definitely won't because I will murder you."

"Why, were you doing something important? Because it looked to me that you two were just staring at each other. God, to just stare at that man--"

Maria, at least, patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry, Michael, we'll help you look for another one."

"That one was sort of odd, anyway," Isobel said in an attempt to cheer him up. 

"I _like_ odd. I like him. Not to sound like a child, but I want that one."

She sighed loudly. "Well, maybe if you start drowning again, he'll come back. I'll hold you under if you like."

"Iz," Maria said.

"I wasn't _drowning_ , give me some credit."

"But he did help you because you were distressed. You could have drowned. You were concussed."

Michael frowned at the horizon, considering the deep blue sea, but when he tried to stand he was pulled back down by a hand on each of his shoulders. "What?"

"I didn't mean it, you ass," Isobel said, "You stay the _hell_ out of the water."

"He could swim by, you know," Maria said. "Maybe you could flag him down."

"You think?"

He looked so pleased by that thought, Isobel hated what she was about to say. "You also need to think that he might not and be prepared for that. There are other fish in the sea."

Michael made an affronted noise. "No, he'll be back, we made a, a connection, I know it."

His sister rolled her eyes, and Maria patted his cheek with her free hand. "That's sweet."

He looked up to the sky. "It was like something cosmic. He was there and then he was gone, but I will never forget him."

"Aw," Maria said as Isobel gagged. 

"I think you're going a little overboard, dear brother. Let Max do the poetry, all right?"

"We all went overboard," he retorted. "Will you let me up now? I want to find a book."

The girls slowly released him. "If you go over, I'll let you die," Isobel threatened.

"No you wouldn't," Michael said cheerfully as he went inside, her grumbles following.

He stopped in front of the bookshelf beside the desk where Max was writing, so deeply into his story that Michael wasn't sure he'd noticed him. He squinted at the spines and covers, but Max had mostly organized them by how often he read them and how much he liked them, so he didn't even know where to start.

"Max, where's your copy of The Tempest? I'm having feelings."

He gestured vaguely at the bookshelf with the hand not holding a pen, and Michael rolled his eyes.

"Obviously. Can you give me more to go on? What color is the cover? Something?"

Max finally put down his pen and looked up. "Sorry, did you say you're... having feelings?"

Michael sighed forlornly and draped himself over the desk. "I'm dying, Max. I am to fall for a man I may never see again."

It was Max's turn to roll his eyes, and he pushed Michael off of his work surface. "You don't even know him."

"I want to. God, I want to. Also, shut up, I already heard it from Isobel."

Max shook his head. "The cover is pale blue, and it should be up there-ish with the other Shakespeare works. How exactly is The Tempest meant to help you?"

"It's thematic," Michael said, scouring the shelves again. "I'll play guitar to the sea and recite lines from this--" He pulled out the playbook triumphantly, careful not to knock down any others. "So if he swims by again he'll hear and stop, and then I can properly woo him."

"Michael..." Max rubbed at his forehead, but the pleased look on his brother's face as he flipped through the pages stopped him from trying to dissuade him. "Let me get Liz. I'm sure she'd love to hear, too."

* * *

**Alex (Sea Witch) (🌹)**

Alex found his humans fairly easily. He knew the building they docked at; before they sunk, he had watched from a distance when they went inside out of curiosity. In addition to the trio who had been on the ship, he knew there were two more women who lived there. Alex latched onto a post beneath the deck and at first only listened for their voices. When each one was accounted for (and it was a great relief to hear his favorite speak), he tried to learn the language.

On his third day of this (he had been careful to make sure his father didn't follow him), he heard a shuffling, and the sound of heavy objects being dragged across the wood above his head. The noise settled after a minute.

"Go on, then," said one of the girls. She sounded amused.

"Don't laugh at him, he'll stop," said another.

"Would he though?" That was the woman from the ship.

"Shush," said the man.

There was a noise near the edge of the deck that had to be caused by his favorite, so Alex swam to a closer post. He picked at the salt crystals encrusting it. 

"For my amazing rescuer, wherever you are." 

Alex perked up -- the man had used some of those words to him before. He strummed the guitar, and Alex wrapped his arms around the beam and shut his eyes to listen.

Occasionally, the guitar paused, and the man spoke, but the way he said what he did made Alex think they weren't his own words. "Here's my hand, with my heart in it."

From the opposite side of the deck, hushed, the other man said, "Oh my god, he's reading as Miranda."

"Come on, it's charming."

"That's not what I would call it."

The man above him cleared his throat. "Kindly shut up or, preferably, go away."

The others didn't move. Alex dipped below the surface to laugh.

"Yes, shut up, let your brother be charming."

"Fine, fine."

The music started again. From time to time, he paused to speak, and though Alex wasn't entirely sure what he was saying since the borrowed words sounded particularly foreign, he began to attribute the same feelings he had to them.

During a particularly long spell of just the guitar playing, someone said, "Run out of lines, have you?"

The man didn't stop, but he did say, "The play is only so long."

"Let's have lunch," one of the women suggested. "Take a break, Michael."

"No, I'll stay here."

"He has to eat, too. Come on."

The strumming slowed as the rest of the humans went inside. Alex heard wood groan as a weight settled against the railing. He moved along the bottom of the deck with his claws carefully so that he'd be directly below him. 

"Are you out there? I think you're out there. Somewhere. I never really thought of myself as a romantic, but I... I hope I get to see you again. Soon."

Alex floated fully horizontal as the footsteps above receded. "See you again..." His voice was hoarse from breathing water, which didn't lend itself so well to speech. "Soon."

* * *

After a week of listening, Alex thought he might be ready, though he wasn't sure what to do next. He went to his brother for advice. 

Flint found his questions about humans immensely uncomfortable. They were supposed to ignore humans, so he didn't know much. Flint poked his baby brother in the ribs until he quit his interrogation. 

Alex merely crossed his arms, eyebrow raised. If there was one good thing about being the baby, it was that his brothers eventually gave in to what he wanted, and he wanted to know more. 

Flint grimaced at him and began to swim toward a fissure they were not meant to go near, and Alex followed closely. 

He stopped abruptly, and Alex gaped at the view over his brother's shoulder. There was an aisle of sunken statues covered in salt crystals to the left and black stone on the right. Flint's claws dug into Alex's arm, and he shook his head. What he would find scared him, and he wasn't going any farther. He wanted them to go back.

Alex pulled away and swam down to the aisle before Flint could drag him away. 

The statues were of humans, Alex was sure, as they all appeared to have legs, and as he progressed deeper, they also had things on their heads that were no good for swimming. 

At the end of the crevice, lit by floating specks, was a sleeping siren with a dark tail like him. He went closer and realized what he thought was her tail was attached to the floor, anchoring her, made of the same black stone that coated the statues. It covered her up to her clavicles. 

This was a human, too, but a real one. This is how the ones he'd rescued could have ended up if the worst had come to pass. 

Alex lifted her chin gently, and her eyes opened, white and glazed. He jerked back in surprise. She showed her teeth and grasped at him before he could pull fully away.

He looked at her clawless fingers trapping his wrist, so different from his own. She beckoned him closer, and he went cautiously, sure he could break away if he wanted to. Her blunt nails scratched at his neck, and she bumped her forehead into his.

Her voice rang out in his head. "I know what you waaant. I can help if you tell me why."

Alex hissed. 

"I'm better with words. Feel it out. You've done it before."

He worked his jaw and echoed back. "I want to join them. Above. The humans. There's one... I want to..."

Her lips formed an o when he could no longer get out the words, and she jostled Alex slightly. "But you can't go up there with a tail, and they can't come down here without one."

"No. You said you can help me?"

She let one hand go and held it away. The glowing specks coalesced at the tips of her fingers. "You have to help yourself. I cannot do it for you."

"How?"

She curled his claws around a thin, mildly glowing stone. "You have to do it yourself on the shore. You'll blend in like a wave on the sea, but it'll hurt, it'll hurt a lot."

"I can handle pain."

She giggled. "You better. I can't bring you back. I can't help you there."

Alex looked down at the stone.

"Maybe my sister is still up there. Maybe she could help you." Her smile disappeared, and she looked up wistfully.

"Sister?"

"Never mind, never mind." The woman shook her head, grin back in full force. "You are not for here, and I was not for there. It's better, it's better, it's better. So you go to the shore, and you mutilate your tail, and I stay here, and I go back to sleep."

Alex nodded, and she gave him one last smile before releasing her hold. Instantly, her eyes shut, and she swayed listlessly.

Busy as he was staring at the stone in his palm, he ran headlong into Flint, who had waited for him outside the crevice. His older brother snatched the rock and held it up to examine. Alex hissed at him and poked him in the flank until he returned it with a reproachful look.

Alex held his other hand up, and Flint matched his goodbye. They swam in opposite directions, Alex angled upwards.

He breached the surface and squinted in the sunlight. He turned on the spot and aimed himself for Salt Resort.

Alex found a place clear of sharp halite and dragged himself out of the water and into the mud, just as where he'd pushed the humans to before. He already knew the air was hot and dry and if he wanted to breathe, he'd have to cough out all the water in him. 

That done, he passed the stone between his hands. He had to mutilate his tail himself. Meaning...

He took a deep breath and wasted no time jabbing the stone into his tail and dragging it down. Alex dropped from the searing pain with a shout.

* * *

**Michael and Alex (Wrong and Right) (💖)**

"Did you hear that?" Michael asked, silencing the strings with his palm.

"No," said Isobel lazily, lounging entwined with Maria. 

He knew the noise wasn't the other happy couple; Liz and Max were inside attempting to share the desk, but they all knew she would take it over and he would end up trying to write from the loveseat.

"What is it, Michael?" Maria asked.

He put his guitar down, to their disappointment, and went to the railing that faced the shore to the south. "Sounded like a person." He shaded his eyes from the sun, and the girls joined him and stood on either side of him to do the same. Suddenly, he pointed. "There, in the mud-- I'll go help."

His sister made a noise of disgust even as Michael hopped the short wooden railing. "You'll muss your clothes!"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Get Max!"

Closer, he saw the man writhing, his eyes squeezed shut in apparent pain. Michael fell to his knees beside him in wonder. The length of his hair, the shape of his face -- "It's you."

He froze and slowly opened his eyes. Oh, being this close again was well worth the pain. Alex shifted to touch him, but he was distracted to see that his webbed claw was like a human's. He dropped his hand in the grey mud and attempted to push himself up instead, but Michael caught his shoulders. 

"What happened to you? Are you okay?"

Alex opened his mouth to answer like he'd been waiting, but no words came out no matter what he tried to say. Finally, he merely nodded and again attempted to rise. 

This time, pain in his tail -- legs -- _leg_ stopped him, and he looked down to see he hadn't quite managed to do the deed himself. He had a leg on his left side, yes, and it ended in a foot, as those of humans do; but on his right, the leg there ended just below a knee. He grabbed at the mud as if he could dig out the rest, but Michael gently took hold of his wrist. Alex decided it wasn't that important and focused on his face instead.

"Now I can properly thank you for saving our lives. Don't worry, my brother is--"

"Here," said Max, having arrived with a blanket. They tied it around Alex's middle, then slowly helped him up and walked him back to their cabin. 

"Max," Michael said with a wide smile, "This is the man who saved us from the petty dhow."

"You are?" He looked at Alex, who nodded shortly. "Then we're in your debt. Let's get you cleaned up."

They went inside and settled him into the loveseat, and Michael went to the back door. Alex might have whined at the loss of contact if he could make noise. 

"Iz, Maria, Liz, he's all right," he called out. 

"Who is he?"

Michael blinked and looked back to the former siren. "What's your name?"

Alex hoped his muteness was a fluke, but when he tried again to speak, he was still silent. The best he could do was mouth his name, and luckily, Max understood. 

"Is it Alex?"

He nodded, and Michael repeated his name to the girls outside with reverence. Max went to the desk to get charcoal and parchment to offer Alex. "Can you write?"

He shook his head. 

"I'll run you a bath, how does that sound? That mud dries a mess," said Michael.

He offered a small smile, and he smiled back. 

"I'll get you some clothes," said Max, and he headed down the hall to Alex's right. "Yours ought to fit."

"I'm Michael, if I never said. Pleasure to meet you, Alex."

Alex nodded and gestured vaguely at him with a small smile, which he took to mean, "Likewise."

"I'll just go, uh, run the water."

He watched Michael stumble backwards into another room with slight bemusement. Once he was out of sight, he shifted the blanket and examined his right leg. The skin was smooth but appeared bruised. He poked the darkest spot and flinched at the acute pain. 

Max returned with a stack of clothes, and Alex quickly covered himself with the blanket again. "I'm Max. Michael's my younger brother. You seem used to being able to talk and surprised that you can't."

Alex nodded. He heard water running in the next room. 

"I have heard sometimes with trauma, people can lose their voice or sight. Did something bad happen to you?"

He glared down and clawed at his thighs through the blanket.

"In most cases, after a period of recovery, people regain their voice or sight." Max smiled at him reassuringly. "You can stay with us as long as you want."

Alex bowed his head and watched him take the clothes into the room where Michael had gone. The sound of running water stopped. Both men came out, rolling their eyes at the other, and Max paused to say, "I'll find you a wheelchair or crutches, there ought to be something around here somewhere."

"Bath's ready," Michael said once Max was gone out the front door. He offered his arm to Alex, and he gladly latched onto him. He was getting the hang of hopping along, but he definitely preferred swimming. 

Michael brought him to an oblong basin of water that wasn't suited for swimming at all. He pointed out a pale rectangle and the stack of clothes Max had, both within arms reach of the basin. "Soap, a towel. Pull on this lever when you've finished to drain the water. If you need anything, just, uh, knock, I'll be in the next room."

Alex squeezed Michael's shoulder in thanks, then shoved off the blanket and lowered himself into the water, which was far warmer than any part of the Dead Sea he'd ever been in.

Michael stared at him for a moment as he began to scrape the mud off, then he backed out of the room to give him some privacy. 

Alex automatically sank part way beneath the water before he remembered he couldn't breathe that way anymore. It also tasted strange, like at the deepest fissures in the sea, and it wasn't as buoyant. 

He gave the soap a deep sniff and immediately dropped it back on its plate in disgust. Once he was clear of mud, Alex pulled on the lever, and the drain opened noisily. He scrambled away from it and glared until all the water was gone. 

Alex grabbed the top, thick cloth and frowned at it. Towel, Michael had said. Was he supposed to wear it? How? The cloth underneath looked more like what he saw humans in; the towel looked more like the blanket they'd wrapped around him which was now in a pile on the floor. 

He was beginning to suspect that maybe he hadn't entirely thought this through, but he banished that line of thinking. He was there, he would learn (somehow), and he'd be with Michael. So what if he didn't have a voice or the same mobility that he had in the water?

Alex wrapped the towel around his waist and pushed himself up shakily. Now what? Clothes, he supposed, but he couldn't let go of the basin to balance on one foot or put them on one-handed...

He heard Max from the next room. "I found crutches."

"Well done. I heard the drain a bit ago, so I'm sure he's nearly done," Michael said. He poked his head through the doorway to see Alex looking around at a loss. "Oh, good timing. Hold on."

A moment later, Michael was beside him again with a pair of sticks under his arm. "All right, Alex?"

He couldn't help but smile when Michael said his name. There was a glee there he hadn't heard in his voice any other time. He set the crutches against the back of the chair and offered his arm again. "Where were you staying?" Michael asked as Alex climbed out.

He waved his hand toward the sea and Michael looked in that direction. Alex took it as an opportunity to pull pants on. 

"What, the opposite shore?"

Alex picked up the shirt and sat on the chair to put it on. He shook his head. They hunted on the opposite shore, but they didn't stay there.

"Then... a boat?"

Alex blinked at him and only shrugged. He didn't know how to explain what he was without words. He looked human, now, too, so maybe it'd be best if he pretended to be one, but he didn't want to lie to him. That seemed counterproductive to learning to communicate with him.

"Sorry, it's none of my business. I'm just very curious about you."

He reached for Michael's hand, still amazed by the change in his biology that made them match. Their hands fit perfectly together. That surely couldn't be a coincidence. He heard Michael's breath hitch, and he looked up and offered a smile when he realized he'd been staring down. 

"You too?"

He nodded and released Michael's hand, thinking he'd overstepped.

"Do you, uh, do you want to meet the girls?" Michael asked. He held out the crutches to Alex, who wasn't sure what to do with them. "You never used these? The padded parts go under your arms. Is that okay?"

He tested his weight on the crutches shortly before he nodded. This would be much easier than having to hold onto one of the others, though he already missed having Michael at his side. 

"Oh, here." He knelt down and tied a knot in his right pant leg. "There you go."

Alex wasn't sure what that accomplished, but he tried to say thanks, anyway. 

"You're welcome. I know the girls want to meet you, and you can have my room after to rest, if you want."

He followed Michael out of the bathroom, through the study and out the back door onto the deck. All four of the other humans sat on a bench built into the wall, holding a whispered conversation that stopped abruptly when they stepped out. 

"Everybody, this is Alex, he rescued us from the petty dhow last week. Alex, you've met Max, there's his wife Liz, my sister Isobel, and Maria."

Alex bowed his head, and they jumped up to crowd around him. 

"He _is_ pretty," said Maria, and Michael pinched her arm only to get his hand smacked away by Isobel. 

"Yes, and thank you for rescuing us," said Isobel. 

"Are you hungry? We could make lunch early," said Liz. 

Alex gaped at her. She looked familiar, but he wasn't sure why. 

"That looks like a yes to me," said Max. "I'll help."

"In the meantime," said Isobel, gently pulling Alex to the bench to sit between her and Maria. "Play us something, Michael."

"Yes, of course," he said. He plucked his guitar from the railing and dragged the chair closer. 

"He's a genius with that instrument," Maria said.

"Don't tell him we said so, it'll go straight to his head."

Alex bounced the top of his hand to the bottom of his chin -- he couldn't even if he wanted to. They smiled at him.

"Oh, so he can sit between you two and I can't?"

Alex leaned forward as Michael got situated, and the girls exchanged a look behind his head. 

"Actually, I think my corset is loose. Do you mind helping me with it inside?" Maria asked Isobel. They both stood. 

"Very subtle, ladies," Michael said loudly as they retreated, and he took Isobel's spot to Alex's left. "Hello."

Alex leaned back and gave a soundless hello back. 

"Um, Maria's overselling me. I just like to play." Michael looked down and began to strum. "There's always a lot going through my head, but when I play, it's quiet. It's... peaceful, you know?"

Alex nodded, but Michael didn't see him, so he touched his shoulder. He looked up with a smile that Alex mirrored.

"I'm sorry that you were hurt, but I'm glad I get to see you again."

Glad was understatement. The air was charged even as Michael continued to play. Alex reached up to his temple where his pretty curls rested and brushed his fingers there. 

Michael gasped and put his guitar aside, so Alex pulled his hand away, only for Michael to catch it with his own. "Can you keep a secret?"

Alex turned his head at the word he didn't know. He repeated the shape of it. 

"You don't know what a secret is?"

He shook his head.

"Are you a bit feral, Alex?" Michael teased. 

Good, another word he didn't know.

"A secret is something you don't tell people."

Ah, then he supposed he could keep one, since he wasn't going to tell anyone that he used to have a tail. He nodded, but just then, the other humans joined them on the deck with plates. 

"Quesadillas!" Liz announced and sat beside Alex. "It was the quickest thing we could make."

"You could have taken longer," Michael grumbled, taking the plate he was offered. 

Isobel picked up his guitar and moved it down so that she and Maria could squeeze next to him. "What, did you want Alex to be hungry?"

"No, but we were talking--"

Alex wasn't hungry, or he hadn't thought so; his family had caught a couple ibexes just the other day and those were usually filling for a week. Whatever this quesadilla thing was, though, smelled amazing, and he dug in with a fervor that left him wondering if humans had to eat more than he was used to.

He looked up to catch Michael staring as he cleaned his fingers. He was only halfway through his own plate. "You, uh--" He cleared his throat. "Do you want more?" Michael asked, holding out his plate.

Alex traded their plates and squeezed his upper arm in thanks. 

"I think he likes your cooking, Liz," Michael said without taking his eyes off of Alex.

"I didn't spend a decade and a half at my father's restaurant to be a poor cook," she said. "And I have a pretty good assistant."

"Happy to help," Max said. 

"Does he, though?" Isobel called from the other end of the bench. 

"Peppering me with compliments is _integral_ to my process," Liz said. 

"I see," Isobel said. "So he had no physical hand in these. Thank God."

" _Integral_ ," she repeated. "But God no."

Alex was content to lean back and listen to their banter stilted between chewing. After a moment, he felt Michael's hesitant fingers in his hair near his shoulder and leaned toward him without thinking. 

"Do you want to rest?" 

Alex shook his head, which made Michael pull away, which was the opposite of what he really wanted, so he frowned. 

"I can... show you around the resort?"

That sounded like a good opportunity to learn more about humans and be close to Michael, so Alex nodded and looked around for his crutches, leaned against the bench beside Max, who passed them down when he saw him looking. 

"Shouldn't Isobel go along?" Maria asked pointedly.

"What, and miss out on the opportunity for Michael not crashing between us? I think not."

"But--"

"Next time," Isobel said dismissively. "Look at Michael's face."

Alex had no idea what they were talking about, but he did look at his favorite human's face. He was delighted. Alex thought that he must really like the resort.

Michael showed him down the hall to a small kitchen, Isobel and Maria's bedroom, and his own bedroom, complete with a shiny brass telescope sitting on a desk by the window. 

"This scope is straight from Germany. It's altazimuth. Isobel got it for me."

Alex had absolutely no idea what he was saying, but he seemed excited, so he smiled. He did have to ask what it was for.

"Stargazing. Looking at the sky at night. I can show you when it gets dark. Here, you can borrow one of my boots, ought to fit you. We'll have to get a tailor in later, my clothes are a little short for you."

Alex sat on the bed to pull the shoe on. 

"Fit okay?"

He went with yes and followed Michael back out. 

Max and Liz's bedroom was by the front. The study and bathroom he'd already seen, so they headed out the front door. There was a pair of small steps that Michael paused at to make sure Alex got down okay. 

He'd never thought about how land could go on and on like the sea. Michael started along the brick path to their right. They passed two more cabins just like the one they came from before a building popped up on their left. There were at least five more cabins that Alex could see.

"Neighbours," Michael said of the cabins. "I recommend avoiding them whenever possible. The ones in that one especially."

Alex jerked his head at the cabin in question.

"They don't like Maria. I personally have to avoid them so that I don't start a fight. Again."

He couldn't imagine why anyone would dislike Maria. He'd hardly known her for an hour, but he was sure he'd defend her, too.

"There's the main building. Have to tell them we have another resident so they deliver more food and schedule a tailor. But let's go in here first," Michael said, sidestepping into a cabin-sized building on their left. "Ice Cream Cafe. I don't think any other resort on the coast of the Dead Sea has one."

The air inside was sweet. Multiple tables lined one side of the room, one or two occupied by patrons with bowls. 

The man behind the counter recognized him and said, "Michael! The usual?"

"Hello, Tony. Yes please. What flavors are you making today? I'm treating Alex," he said, tilting his head toward him.

Tony leaned on the counter to look at him. "The one you were looking for, no? Chocolate, of course, and I've got cherries and strawberries in. What'll it be?"

He looked to Michael and repeated the first flavor, and he nodded back. 

"Two chocolate then."

Tony tapped on the counter and went into a back room. 

"Have you ever had ice cream before?"

Alex shook his head.

"Oh, it's really good. Tony here gets his ice shipped in from... Where do you get the ice from?"

Tony put a pair of bowls on the counter. "All the way from Sweden. Enjoy."

"Thank you." Michael picked them up and led Alex to a table where they sat across from each other. He watched Michael pick up the spoon and mirrored him. "Sweden. Huh."

He'd never eaten anything cold in his life. This was colder than the deepest fissures in the Dead Sea. He wasn't sure he could even qualify those as cold compared to ice cream. 

"All right there?"

Alex had to agree with his "really good" adjudication, although he thought it could do with a little salt.

"Salt?" Michael reached down the table for a small jar and shook some of its contents over his bowl before passing it to Alex, who did the same. Michael took a cautious bite. "Alex. You're a genius."

Alex grinned around his spoon. Maybe he was actually good at the human thing. 

They finished up their ice cream and returned the bowls to Tony before heading back out. 

Halfway to the main building, someone called for Michael again. They looked around and saw a sharp blond woman stalking down from the cabin at the end. 

"Beware, it's Jenna. She's very dangerous, a breaker of men. Afternoon, Jenna!"

"Afternoon." She surveyed the pair of them shortly. "Heard you're doing knots soon. Bet Maria is pleased."

"They both are," Michael grumbled. Alex wondered if they were significant knots.

"Who's your friend?"

"This is Alex, he's the one who rescued us from the dhow."

She smiled knowingly. "You found him. I know you-- I mean, all of you were quite interested in meeting him. Pleasure to meet you, Alex." 

He bowed his head.

"Speaking of which, your replacement dhow should be in next week."

"How do you know?"

"I have my ways. You'll have plenty of time to prepare for the big day. Oh, and Kyle wants you to check in, make sure your concussion didn't have any lasting effects."

"Ugh, what if I don't?"

"Then I imagine he'll make another very noisy house call. Well, me and Charlie are taking the sloop out today, you two have a lovely afternoon." They waved, and she headed back to her cabin. 

Michael huffed. "I don't want to see Kyle."

Alex reached over and touched his elbow. 

"He's the lead doctor here, but he's so... He's... Ugh."

He asked him what that meant.

"Mean, yes, he's mean. Passively mean. I don't know how to describe it. I just don't like him."

Alex nodded and repeated "doctor."

"Oh, uh, he takes care of injuries. Like when I hit my head while the ship was going down."

He assumed at this point there was nothing more to be done about his missing half a leg, but his voice... Alex opened his mouth and tapped a finger to his bottom lip. 

"All right, if you want to go. Let's make sure they send us more food first though."

They entered the lobby and Michael sidled right up to the counter. The woman behind it looked annoyed already. "Hello, Bernadette. Need you to mark us down for another person for deliveries, and schedule a tailor as soon as possible."

Her eyes flicked from him to Alex and she suddenly looked a lot more pleasant. "Ah, is this the gentleman you were searching for last week?"

"Yes."

"Your sister must be very pleased."

"Oh, uh, yes."

"I've marked him down. The tailor will be by tomorrow."

"Thanks. We, we need to go see Kyle."

"If she's not, I would be!" Bernadette called after them. 

"Don't, don't wave at her, she's awful," Michael said under his breath, turning Alex away with a light hand on his shoulder. "Down here."

They went through a side hall and into an office. Inside were a couple of chairs, small beds, several bookshelves, and a desk with a man behind it. He stood with a wide smile when they came in. "And here I thought I'd have to walk all the way down there. How're you feeling, Michael?"

"God forbid. I feel fine. No lingering headaches or whatever. Alex has a question for you."

"Oh? Hello, Alex."

He made the same lip-tapping gesture he had to Michael earlier.

"He washed up a couple hours ago and now he can't talk," Michael explained.

"Huh." Kyle waved them over to the window. "Better light. Open. Hmm. You can't make _any_ sounds?"

Alex shook his head.

"Max said sometimes people stop talking because of trauma, could that be it?"

Kyle shrugged. "The brain is a complex organ, anything is possible."

Alex didn't particularly care how it happened; he just wanted to know if it could be fixed.

Kyle looked up to the ceiling and ran a hand through his hair. "Any case like that I've ever heard of resolved itself. I'll look into it, but there's usually something else at play."

Alex indicated his right thigh.

"Could be. When did you lose it, though? Because I feel like you're too balanced to have lost it recently and thus have it affect your voice."

He supposed he shouldn't tell them that he gained his legs at the same time that he lost his voice since he would then have to explain that he used to have a tail, so he merely waved his hand. 

Kyle turned to the bookshelf, which was far neater than any of the ones back at the cabin, and selected a book. "I'll come by in a couple days. I'm sure I'll have some more information by then."

"Great, see you then," Michael said.

"And not a minute before," Kyle agreed.

Alex poked Michael in the arm once they were out of the office. Kyle hadn't seemed as bad as he'd made him out to be. 

"I suppose he's better than he used to be," Michael admitted. "But I still don't trust him."

Alex poked him in the back of the head.

"Sure, he's an all right doctor, patches everyone up well, but as a friend? Ugh."

He made a face and copied his ugh.

"Exactly."

Alex indicated himself and made the face again.

"No, see, Kyle has no appreciation for art, he might not have let me drown, but he definitely would have let my guitar drown. I really appreciate that you didn't."

He wasn't thinking of the guitar. He hadn't even seen it. He just patted Michael on the shoulder. 

"Seriously, Alex, it means a lot to me." Michael stopped their trek to bump his forehead into Alex's. "And for getting my siblings, of course. Thank you."

Alex didn't know what to say, not that it mattered, since Michael had his eyes shut and wouldn't see anyway. Instead, he lifted a hand to Michael's neck to drag his thumb along his jaw. Michael pressed into his touch.

One of his crutches clattered to the floor, causing them both to jump. Michael picked it up and returned it to him. "Shall we go home?"

Alex followed him, glancing out to the Dead Sea, to the place he used to call home. The witch thought he'd be better here, and Alex hoped she was right. 

He felt the morning seep into him as they headed back. He was tired and full. His leg was starting to ache. He--

He stopped in the middle of the path in front of the Cabin to Avoid. Michael turned back curiously. 

Did Liz have a sister?

"I'm... sorry?"

Alex stepped closer and repeated his question as clearly as he could.

Michael frowned. "She used to. How did you know?"

He looked out to the sea. This was something else he couldn't explain. 

"Have you lived here all your life?"

Alex nodded.

Michael lowered his voice. "Liz's family came here several years ago on vacation. Her sister went overboard, with weights, they think. Maybe you helped them look for her body back then. Her name was Rosa. Look, Alex, Liz still misses her terribly, so it's best not to mention her, okay?"

He agreed, but he wondered to himself if what she'd said was really true, that she was better off down there. Her absence wasn't better for Liz, and Alex already liked Liz. If he couldn't return her sister, maybe there was something else he could do for her.

"You look like you need some sleep. After you." Michael waited for him to start walking and easily kept up alongside. 

Max and Liz were seated side by side behind the desk when they entered the cabin and they waved at the two boys pleasantly. They waved back and took a left to Michael's room. Alex wondered if he was going to sleep, too, as he folded back the sheets for him.

"No, I'm not tired yet, and I, uh, I don't want to bother you."

He wasn't sure that was possible, but Michael was rubbing his neck and looking away.

"Have a nice nap. I'm going to bother Max and Liz, so if you need anything, we're just in the other room." Michael turned back to him with a smile.

Alex nodded and considered the bed as Michael left. He wasn't sure it was wet enough, but if this was how humans slept, he could probably do it, too. He sat down and put the crutches against the small table, then shucked off the shirt and boot. He laid the shirt across the foot of the bed as neatly as he could and left the shoe where it fell.

Alex settled back and made himself comfortable. He inhaled deeply and was surrounded by Michael. 

Sleeping wouldn't be as difficult as he thought. He felt safe there, more than he ever had underwater. He gripped at one of the pillows and was asleep before he knew it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Michael knelt in front of the desk in the study, grinning at his brother and sister-in-law. 

"You look happy," said Liz, putting aside a test tube and causing Max to look up from his manuscript. 

"You do. He likes you, then?"

"I think so? You don't have to sound so surprised. _You_ like me."

"I tolerate you," Max said, looking back down to his pages. 

"Wow."

"Well, _I'm_ not surprised he likes you," Liz said. "I am surprised that you've left him alone so soon."

"He's resting. It's been a long morning and, you know, I don't want to come on too strong."

"This coming from the man who recited Shakespeare to the sea in the hopes he would hear," Max pointed out. 

"I did what I had to do. Anyway, I don't think he lived in an actual society. He didn't know what a doctor or a secret was."

"Oh, leave it to Michael to choose someone difficult," Liz said fondly.

"Did you tell him about the Maria situation?"

Michael dropped his chin to the desk. "Well, I was trying to, but then there were quesadillas, and he was so pretty that I forgot. I almost perished when he licked his fingers, did you see?" 

"Are we calling it the Maria situation now?"

"I get my own situation?"

Michael jumped. Maria and Isobel dropped into the loveseat behind him. "Yes, it is your fault for seducing Iz, after all." He turned back to Liz and Max. "I'll tell him, somehow. It'll all be simpatico."

Isobel squinted. "You trust him?"

"Yes! He saved us, remember? He wouldn't turn around and hurt you two like that, I am sure of it."

"If he didn't live in an actual society," Max said, "How are you going to explain marriage, let alone a theatrical marriage and why it's necessary?"

"It's not that difficult a concept," Isobel said, rolling her eyes. "For most of us, anyway."

"Even if it wasn't, Alex is obviously a genius."

"Here we go--"

Michael turned and slid down the desk to sit on the floor, a dreamy look on his face. "He's perfect."

The others exchanged looks over his head.

"Michael," Liz said softly, leaning over the desk. "You've known him for two hours. Don't put him on a pedestal he can't get down from."

He tilted his head back to look up at her. "I know, I know. I just... and he... Well, I'm out here, aren't I?" He waved his hand toward the hallway.

"Surprisingly," Maria said with a nod.

"That's what I said!"

"Excuse me, I am a gentleman."

"How's a wager?" Isobel asked. "I bet if you asked him to share the bed, he would let you."

"Oh, definitely," came the agreements around the room.

"Well, maybe, but who's to say he knows any different?"

"You said he's a genius," Maria reminded him.

"A genius who I'm going to give space to." Michael nodded toward the couch behind the desk. "I'll sleep over there."

"You'll hurt your neck," Isobel said disapprovingly. 

"It'll be fine."

"If you hurt yourself you have to see Kyle," Max told him.

Michael groaned. "Why couldn't it be one of the others?"

"To discourage you from hurting yourself, of course," said Liz. "Besides, he's the best doctor around for miles."

"It's true," Max said with a nod.

"You know who's the best?"

Isobel found and tossed a playbill at Michael's head. "I need you to stop or the next one will be a hardcover."

He stuck out his tongue. "Fine."

"Thank you."

They all slowly went back to what they were doing, and Michael contemplated the ceiling, still thinking about Alex. He thought he should probably find out for sure if Alex liked him the same way.

"Actually--"

His sister reached for a thick tome; Michael held up his hands and looked back up. Shortly, Liz came around the desk and sat beside him.

"We all want it to work out for you, Michael," she said. She took one of his hands to pat. "So you need to make sure he understands so neither of you get hurt."

Michael nodded. "I'll talk to him about it later."

* * *

Alex woke up and for a terrifying minute forgot where he was without the weight of the sea in his lungs. He jerked downward in search of water and found the mattress with blunt fingers. He was human now, and he was in Michael's bed, and he could breathe just fine. He took a deep, slow breath to assure himself.

It was dark, but it was his mid-sleep time. He wondered if humans had those. He'd never stayed alongside any ship late enough to find out.

He needed to move a little, at least, so he grabbed the crutches to make a quiet lap around the cabin. 

He heard muffled noises from the kitchen as he passed and peeked in. Liz was trying to quietly move pots around by candlelight. Alex tapped one of his crutches on the floor to get her attention. She jolted away from the cabinets, hand over her heart.

" _Ay dios mio,_ Alex, you scared me!" 

He apologized.

"No, no, it's all right. Did I wake you?"

Alex shook his head and attempted to explain that he usually woke at this time for a little while.

"Oh, me too. Everyone else does a bit later."

There was that question answered, he supposed, but what was Liz doing?

"I thought of a new way to organize these. And then I was trying to think of a way to make rearranging them quieter. But now I think I want to sit and talk to you instead." She spread an arm toward the small table with only three chairs, so Alex sat beside her. "I wanted to give my sincerest thanks to you for bringing my husband and his siblings to shore last week."

He nodded, then he repeated, _husband?_ It was something to do with the word wife, at least when it came to Max and Liz, but he didn't know what either meant.

"You really don't know?"

He confirmed that he really didn't.

"Max and I are married. We're a legal pair. See?" She held out her left hand and pointed at a ring on her second last finger. "Max has one too. Means we're claimed by each other."

So it was just as he'd guessed; humans had mates, too. His first thought, of course, was that Michael didn't wear any rings. His next thought was to wonder where he could get one for him. 

Alex picked up her hand gently to examine the ring. The metal was an intricate design and the faceted stone set in its center was more sparkly than any he'd ever seen. He was sure it wasn't naturally occurring.

He told her it was very pretty and asked where they got them. 

She smiled widely and once again reminded him of the witch-- of Rosa. "These are from a jeweler in Italy, but we can put orders in for things that aren't on the grounds. Why do you ask, Alex?"

He grinned and rested an elbow on the table to support his head. He came here for Michael, after all. If he thought of himself as part of a pair, he thought Michael should be the other half, and he had thought so since he first saw him. 

Liz sniffled. "You are so sweet. You should tell him. He has things to tell you, too."

He did? Alex looked around the little kitchen, then asked her where he was. 

"He's sleeping on the couch. He didn't want to bother you."

He only turned his head.

"We were sure you wouldn't mind and he should at least ask you, but he insisted on giving you space."

That didn't clear anything up for him. 

"Um, if you don't mind sharing a bed with him, would you convince him to sleep there? The couch is too small to sleep on. For any of us to sleep on, really."

Alex nodded, and Liz covered a yawn. He was tired again, too.

"I think it's time for me to go back to bed. Good night, Alex. Welcome to the family. Do you do hugs?"

He shrugged and picked up his crutches to follow her lead. 

She patted his shoulder. "That's all right. Ask Michael about that, too. He's a good hugger."

Liz turned right at the end of the hall to go into her and Max's shared room. 

Michael slept on the couch with his head flat on the cushion and socked feet very nearly touching the bookshelf, hanging over the side. His mouth was hanging open. Alex maneuvered his left crutch so that he had a free hand and carefully tugged on Michael's arm. 

He snorted awake with a slight flail and a, "What, what, what?" but he stilled when he saw Alex, and a soft smile stretched his lips. "Alex. Do you need something?"

He shook his head and tugged on Michael's arm again. He waved his hand back the way he came, and Michael looked down the hall blankly for a moment. Alex got his attention back and explained that he'd just talked to Liz and that they should share his bed.

"Oh," he said. "Are you sure?"

Alex pulled at his arm more forcefully. It was _Michael's_ bed, so if either of them shouldn't be in it, it was Alex. 

"All right, well, I'm certainly not kicking you out," Michael said. He sat up and Alex heard some of his joints crack. "Oof. But now I'm awake."

Alex wasn't going to move until Michael followed him back to his room. He didn't want him to sleep where it hurt him, and at the same time, he wanted Michael to sleep near him. Finally, he stood up, the blanket around his shoulders like a cape.

Michael spoke low as they walked: "I'm going to read a little before I join you."

Alex gave him a look and waited until Michael lit a candle at his desk to tell him that he'd better not go back to the couch.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he said gruffly, dropping into the chair. 

Alex nodded and got resituated in bed. He stared at the little flame and the way it illuminated Michael's curls until he fell back asleep.

Michael, on the other hand, could only keep up the pretense of reading for a few minutes before he turned to watch Alex. He had one of Michael's pillows grasped firmly between his arms and looked positively angelic. He shut his book and blew out the candle. 

He settled in beside Alex, a generous space between them helped by the pillow in his hold. He couldn't help himself; he reached out to touch Alex's wrist. Instantly, Michael's hand was in the same clutch as his pillow, their fingers tangled together. 

Alex pulled their hands closer in his sleep, a smile and Michael's name on his lips.

Michael fought sleep to keep his eyes on Alex, as if he'd disappear with the sun like any truly good dream, but eventually, he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.

* * *

In the morning, Michael woke up slowly, only to find that Alex was awake and playing with his fingers. He retreated when he glanced up and saw Michael watching uncomprehendingly. 

"You don't have to--" He caught his hand back and wove their fingers together again. "Morning."

Alex squeezed his hand and smiled back. He began to mouth words, but Michael only caught "Liz."

"I'm sorry, Alex, slow down, it's early yet." He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand.

He started over and told him about how Liz and Max were mates, and he wanted the same for the pair of them, and how did he order out for a ring, anyway?

Michael rubbed at his eyes again incredulously. "Did you just-- Do you-- You want to marry me?"

Alex nodded in full confidence. 

Michael sat up quickly. He reclaimed his hand to pinch his own arm. "Am I dreaming?"

Alex grabbed his wrist with a frown to keep him from pinching himself again. Why was he doing that?

"No, no, actually, if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up."

Still confused, Alex shook his head and sat up to ask him about the other thing Liz told him: that Michael's a good hugger. 

"She said that? It's true, but I can't believe she said that. You want one?"

He agreed despite his ignorance of the word. Michael pulled him in with gentle hands on his waist before wrapping his arms around him, and Alex automatically did the same. He vaguely remembered his mother and brothers embracing him when he was small. Michael was infinitely better, skin pressed into skin and his warm breath in his hair. 

Michael pressed his lips to Alex's temple before he backed away just enough to see his face. "What do you think? Was Liz right?"

He nodded. Michael was better than good, in his opinion. 

Before either of them could say any more, there was a loud banging on the door, and Isobel yelled through it: "Breakfast is ready, get decent and get out here!"

Michael groaned and leaned forward to shout back, "In a minute!" over Alex's shoulder. Then he rested his forehead against his. Far more softly, he asked, "Are you hungry?"

Alex thought about it for a moment and realized that he was, in fact, starving, as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. He nodded. Their noses brushed together, and they each jumped back as if they'd been shocked. 

"What was that?"

Alex didn't know, either. 

"Um." Michael scooted backwards until he could reach the dresser and pulled out a pair of shirts, one of which he handed to Alex. "The tailor should come today, then you'll have clothes that fit properly. I'll, uh, I'll clear some space for you."

He thanked him and pulled the shirt on over his head. 

* * *

They had hardly finished eating with everyone when the front door was opened. Isobel stood. "That'll be Tay. Come on, Alex, I'll help."

He only went when Michael smiled at him reassuringly.

The tailor quickly and efficiently measured Alex with a length of tape in the middle of the study as Isobel watched with a sharp eye from the loveseat. With all the numbers written down in a small book, Tay said, "I'll send packages as I finish them. You'll have a couple outfits by tonight."

"Excellent. Thank you, Tay," Isobel said. Alex nodded along. 

Tay left, and Alex turned questioningly to Michael's sister. 

"Michael isn't exactly the epitome of fashion. It's better if Tay sees me so that she knows she can't slouch with your clothes." She stood and stretched, then poked her head out the back door. She shut it despite Alex coming up behind her. "Do you fancy a walk?"

Was something wrong outside?

"No, no, not at all, I just thought a walk might be nice. And, um, I'm not really meant to walk around alone. Come with me?"

Alex eyed the door. He wanted to be with Michael.

She huffed a laugh. "I promise it won't take long, just down to the cafe and back. I'll tell you a story about Michael from when we were younger."

He finally gave a slow nod and picked his way to the front door. 

"Thank you."

In the back, Michael was lying on the deck and staring at the sky, almost hyperventilating, when Isobel opened the door. She shut it when she saw Max hold up a hand. He'd just need a few minutes. 

Of the three crowded around him, Michael focused on Liz first. She was scientific. She would tell him. "Is-- Is he real?"

"Yes," she said, patting his cheek. Max and Maria echoed her. 

Michael reached for his brother's face and squished. "He said he wants to marry me. Is that real?"

Max grabbed his wrists and lowered his hands. "Michael, you're not having a psychotic break, you don't have any history of that. If that's what you saw, it's real."

He turned to Maria. "He's so perfect. Right? How is he real? How can he want me?"

She shrugged. "That's how I feel about your sister."

Michael snorted a short laugh and looked back to the sky. "Gross."

"And that's how Max and I feel about each other. Come on, Mikey. It's real."

He reached up and flicked her forehead. "Now I know I must be awake. You don't call me that in my dreams."

"Oh? What do I call you?"

"Michael, same as everyone else!" He sat up slowly with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I never thought it'd happen for me, and now it's happening so fast and I'm so happy that if it's not real I might actually die of longing like someone in one of those Victorian novels, Max you know the ones."

"Is it too fast?" Maria wondered.

"No. Yes? I don't know. I'm sure I love him. I just don't want to do anything wrong."

"You'll be fine, Mikey. He wants you. Alex asked me where he could get you a ring as soon as I explained what it was."

"And then you told him I'm a good hugger. Unbelievable."

"Did you hug him?"

"Yes, of course I did!"

"And?"

He mumbled, "He said I was better than good."

Maria clapped him on the shoulder and stood up. "You have nothing to be worried about. They'll be back soon, you know."

"Did you kiss him yet?" 

"Liz!"

"What? I'm curious!"

"I kissed his forehead."

"Well just imagine how happy you'll be when you do kiss him! Come on, up off the floor."

Max pulled both of them up with him, and they went back to the bench to gather their plates. 

* * *

A week passed, subdued, and Michael began to call it their room rather than his. Alex wanted to ask about a ring again, but there were so many other things for him to learn.

The new petty dhow was delivered just before dinner while Michael was sat between Alex and Maria playing his guitar. The former watched his fingers intently; he was getting the feeling that Alex wanted to learn the instrument. The latter merely listened with her eyes closed and hands clasped over her stomach.

It was Michael who noticed the ship tie to their dock, and he nodded at it. "Looks like our replacement vessel is here."

A tiny crew of two men disembarked, so Michael passed his guitar to Alex and stood to meet them. 

Behind him, Maria smiled at Alex. "You know, I don't think he's ever let anyone else even touch that thing before."

He didn't know that, but he held it with reverence all the same. 

"Alex, Maria, let's look around," Michael said as the crew passed through their cabin. 

Alex carefully exchanged the guitar for a crutch and followed Maria across the gang plank. 

Maria squinted at the mast in the center of the main deck. "Is this one bigger?" 

"Uh, yes, slightly," Michael said. "Not too big for you, is it?"

"You wish." They went to the wheel as Alex slowly poked around. "I can handle it myself just as easily as the last one."

"I know you can. So, despite the size difference, everything should be in about the same place as the old one."

Alex leaned over the railing to look at the sea and suddenly wondered if any of his family was watching. He made a grotesque face that would make his brothers laugh and his parents disapprove. 

"Shall we check below?" Michael asked.

"I'll pass," Maria said. "I never went down there before, and I see no reason to start now."

Shortly, Michael draped an arm over Alex's shoulders, and he stopped making faces to smile at him. He asked him if he liked the new ship.

"Seems all right. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I actually wanted to build one."

Why didn't he?

"Not enough time before the Big Day."

Alex nodded as if he knew what that meant. People kept referring to a Big Day, which seemed to be about two weeks out, but he didn't know what made it big. Presumably, it was something to do with the ropes on the ship, given Jenna's comments about tying knots, but beyond that, he had no clue.

"Besides, this one would be much safer than anything I built. I don't have the same experience."

Alex was sure anything Michael built would be lovely. He'd shown him his drawings, after all.

"It's for the best, really. This one is good." He squeezed Alex's shoulders. "Standing next to you, any would be good."

Alex squeezed back. 

"Michael, Alex!" 

Michael dropped his arm and turned with a deep exasperated frown. Max looked around the deck with an impressed nod before he went to them. "Kyle stopped by earlier, said the voice loss is most likely psychosomatic. Treatment would involve therapy."

He could guess which word Alex didn't know before he asked and told him, "You would have to talk to Kyle about your life to fix it, _if_ he's even right."

"Not necessarily to Kyle, but yes."

Alex pressed his knuckles to his jaw, and they read _even secrets?_ on his lips.

Max and Michael exchanged a look. 

"I mean, that's how they help, by knowing things you wouldn't normally tell people to find out what's wrong," Max said.

"It's just an option. He said cases like this usually resolve themselves, before, so you could get your voice back on your own."

Alex tapped on his chin in thought like Isobel so frequently did. _I can't tell them_ was his answer a moment later. 

Max nodded. "I'll let him know your decision."

Alex waved him over before he turned away, and Max stepped closer curiously. He pointed at his left hand. 

"What?"

 _Ring_.

"Oh, here, have a look."

Michael watched Alex examine Max's wedding ring intensely. It was a simple gold band. Alex's conclusion was that _Liz's is prettier_.

"Well, Liz is prettier than me, it's only fair," Max joked. 

Alex, however, took him seriously, because he turned a look on Michael that made him blush. 

"Er, traditionally, women get the fancier jewelry, that's all. You just have to like wearing it."

He nodded and asked what Michael liked to wear, then.

Max hid a laugh and retreated back to the cabin as Michael sputtered. 

_Wrong?_

"No! No, I'm just--" He shook his head and brushed Alex's hair out of his face. "Alex, I don't want to detract from the big day. Isobel would skin me. We should, we should wait until after."

He agreed to that readily and pulled at Michael with his free hand until they were embracing and swaying in time with the waves. 

* * *

Michael carried another chair into their room in the middle of the night two days later and put it by the desk. "Alex, come see."

He sat beside Michael as he spun things on the telescope. He had woken up at his usual time to an empty bed. He pointed out that Michael was up early.

"Oh, yes. Uh, I've been trying to match up with you, so I could show you this. This is the best time to see." He peered through the closer end and made more adjustments. Once pleased, he leaned away so Alex had room. "Look through there."

He recognized the bright points of light as stars, though he'd never seen them at such magnitude. Alex had spent enough time floating at the surface to know them. This felt a lot closer. 

Before he could even ask how, Michael explained. "The glass lenses on the ends are convex. They bend the light and make what you're looking at appear closer. Do you like it?"

Alex backed away to nod. 

"It's one of my favorite things to look at, so I wanted to share it with you." He adjusted the telescope again with a small smile.

No wonder he liked one of his favorite human's favorite things. Of course, one of Alex's own favorite things was simply to watch Michael. 

When he backed away again, he caught Alex's eye. "What?"

Alex thanked him for showing him by pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. 

"Of-Of course. Um, this is, this is Mars, it's another planet."

He saw a distinctly red light through the telescope. Another planet. Did other people live there?

"Nobody knows for sure, but we don't think so." 

But then, they didn't think anything lived in the Dead Sea, so Alex thought anything must be possible. 

Michael pointed the telescope to a few other objects of interest before they could barely keep their eyes open anymore. 

Alex still used one of Michael's pillows as an anchor, though he knew there was no way it would keep him from floating off. He knew Michael wouldn't either, but he still longed to have him in his arms instead.

Every morning he found their hands tangled together.

* * *

Isobel had asked Alex to accompany her on a walk daily, and he went, despite how amusing it was to watch Michael and Maria squabble on the dhow. 

Isobel was sharp and had a quality about her that made people agree with her. She even got Alex to try other flavors of ice cream, though chocolate remained his favorite. 

A week after the dhow arrived, Alex finally met the occupants of the Cabin to Avoid as they strolled past on their way back home. A man and a woman loitered in front of the door and the woman called, "Not taking your servant for walks anymore, Isobel?"

She stopped in her tracks, a flash of anger on her face. Alex touched her elbow in concern, and she trained her expression into something more pleasant. "I'll handle them." She turned and raised her chin. "Maria is a member of our family. If all you have is rudeness, don't speak of her at all."

The pair walked down the steps and got closer. He didn't like the predatory way they moved, so Alex stepped partly in front of her, heavy on his leg in case he needed to use his crutch as a weapon. 

"It'll be a cold day in hell when I'm kind to a black woman," the man said, except he didn't say black woman, he used two words that made Isobel growl and fly forward with a fist. She hit him square in the jaw, and he reeled back. The other woman went to him with a shriek. 

Isobel shook out her hand with a grimace. "There are consequences for your words. I thought my brother taught you that. Come on, Alex."

He glared and hissed silently back at the couple but followed her back to the cabin, even as they yelled after them. She flexed her hand with distaste and grumbled angrily under her breath. He tapped her shoulder outside their cabin and asked if she was okay.

"Yes, I'm fine, I just can't stand them treating Maria like she's dirt."

Alex decided they must not know her. 

"They don't, but it wouldn't matter. They think everyone of her coloring is lesser. _They're_ the problem."

He asked if he should go back and reinforce her chosen consequence. 

Isobel laughed. "I'll let you do the honors if it happens again. Best not take it too far."

Alex nodded and followed her inside. They passed Max and Liz with a short hello before boarding the dhow. Maria immediately cut off her conversation with Michael to go to Isobel, so Alex slotted himself beside him, head on his shoulder.

"What happened?"

"Hank was being extra racist."

Maria frowned at her and turned to Michael. "See, this is why we should have medical supplies on board, just in case something happens."

He huffed. "I wasn't saying no to supplies, I'm just saying we would never use them. We're definitely not inviting the racists. We're not inviting anyone who doesn't know."

"We're going to get some," Maria said with an air of finality.

"We should wait a little while before getting more," Isobel said as she was led down the gangplank. "He's probably with Kyle right now. I made him bleed."

Michael turned to laugh into Alex's neck. "Did you have a good walk aside from that?" he asked.

He nodded, but he was happier to be back beside Michael. 

"I think if Hank ever made a comment about Liz, Max would actually break him."

Alex told him that he had Isobel's permission to break him if he ever said anything rude about Maria again.

"He'll be the resort punching bag," Michael said with an edge of pride. "It's what he deserves."

Alex did not intend to punch him. He intended to crack his skull with his crutch. 

"Alex!" Michael was laughing, but he was entirely serious. "I would love to see that. My god. Might help to have another leg to stand on."

Did he know where he could get one? 

"Oh, damn, I should have mentioned it sooner. We can send out for an artificial one." 

He asked Michael to show him, and he nodded.

"I'm sorry, it didn't even cross my mind, you're so fast with the crutch and I-- I'm sorry. Did you have one before?"

Alex simply shook his head and followed Michael back through the cabin. They froze when they saw the occupants of the Cabin to Avoid, but they hastily entered and slammed the door behind them.

"Great, we might have to see Kyle about it. I'm not sure where to send out for one. See if Bernadette knows, but she probably doesn't."

She didn't.

They found Kyle reading a book, and he sighed when the door opened. Then he saw that it was Michael and Alex and his face twitched. "How's Isobel's hand?"

"You know very well that Hank's head is made of cheese. She's fine."

He made an impressed noise. "So then, to what do I owe the-- well, I wouldn't say pleasure, maybe some--"

"Where would we send out for an artificial leg?" Michael interrupted. 

Kyle blew out air. "I don't know. Watchmaker? Locksmith? Leather worker?"

"What do any of those have to do with legs?"

"What exactly do you think artificial legs are made of?" He went to his bookshelf before Michael could answer. "This is a book of notes by Paré and Lorrain. This one is by Verduyn. He developed a fairly reliable below-knee prosthesis, which is what you're looking for. And this is a blueprint by James Potts of Chelsea with the most recent improvement to lower extremity work." He held the stack away from Michael and said pointedly, "I want these back."

"Yes, fine, thank you."

Alex thanked him, too, as Michael flipped open the first book.

"You're welcome, Alex. Please make him bring those back."

He nodded and pulled Michael along after him. 

He mumbled, "I could design a leg." Michael squinted at the blueprint. "I could even build one. Max has some leather stuff. I can work with wood and metal." He looked up. "Not to be hubristic, but you should have the best."

Alex had no doubt Michael meant it.

"Or better yet, I could send out for the parts. All professionally made and assemble them proper. Max just repairs bindings sometimes." He flipped through the second book, and Alex took his elbow to make sure he didn't run into anyone. He tucked the books under his arm when he realized. "Right. Sorry, I want to get this started for you. Walking around with an open book, I'm turning into Max. Don't start any fights until it's ready, all right?"

Alex couldn't make any promises about that. He eyed the Cabin to Avoid as they walked past. 

* * *

The next week and a half was full of activity. Michael got Alex's input on the design of his leg ( _I just want it to work_ ) and taught him to play guitar, Isobel went on strolls with him and roped into helping decorate the dhow for the Big Day, Max and Maria took turns teaching him to read and write, and Liz taught him how to cook. Alex made sure all of them knew how to swim properly ( _no, like this_ ). 

Michael introduced Alex to alcohol, late one night after everyone else had gone to bed. They sat on the couch passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth. 

"I'm sad," Michael said when the bottle was half gone.

Alex took a short drink, turned his head, and asked him why. 

"Because of tomorrow. I don't know, I guess I just wish it didn't have to be the way it is." He played with the bottle for a moment when Alex passed it back. "Do you get lonely?"

Tomorrow was the Big Day. He still didn't know what it was about, but he did know lonely from before. He wasn't anymore, not with Michael around. 

"Damn," he said with a small nervous laugh. "Drinking was a bad idea. I can't quite tell what you're saying."

They were already right next to each other, but Alex got closer and wrapped his arms around Michael's middle. He put the bottle on the desk and returned the hold. 

"Oh, I get it. I'm not lonely with you, either." He nuzzled into Alex's neck. "Are you cold? You feel cold."

He just shook his head. Humans were just warmer than sirens, and Michael was even warmer when he drank. 

"I'm really glad you're here, Alex. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't. I can't wait for tomorrow to be over."

Alex patted his cheek reassuringly, and Michael nodded and extricated himself.

"Tired. So tired. Are you tired?" He stood up and wobbled. "Got this. Alex?"

Alex pulled himself up with his crutch and hooked his free arm into Michael's. He was far less wobbly than Michael, but they still barely made it to their room. Michael dragged himself across the bed so that he was more or less diagonally situated, and he pulled Alex down beside him as soon as his crutch was set up. 

"I will keep you warm," Michael announced, wrapping his arms and legs around Alex securely. 

He pressed their foreheads together, and they passed out.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not as fancy a wedding as one might expect with Isobel involved, but that's the time period for you.

* * *

**Alex (Sea Foam Starry Evening) (👫)**

Alex woke up with a dull headache to hissing noises. He squinted toward the door and saw Michael and Isobel conversing. Michael glanced over and cut off the conversation to hand him a cup of water, which he took gladly. 

"Alex, would you mind terribly getting a medical kit for the dhow from Kyle after breakfast?" Isobel asked. "Maria and I meant to, but we got... distracted."

He nodded and downed the cup. 

"We really didn't need to know," Michael said. "We'll be quick."

"No, no _we_ , Alex can get the kit on his own, _you_ have to be presentable."

"Why? It's just us!"

"You are such a child. Consider it practice for the real thing. You would want to look good then, wouldn't you?"

"I always look good. Right, Alex?"

He nodded absently, more focused on how that cup hadn't held nearly enough water.

Isobel rolled her eyes. "Will you do this for me, please?"

Michael sighed loudly. "Since you asked nicely, I suppose."

"Thank you." She embraced her brother, then she hugged Alex, too, for good measure. "Come on, breakfast."

* * *

Breakfast was particularly noisy. Alex didn't think it qualified as Big, though. After, he ambled down the brick path to the main building alone. 

Jenna caught him just inside. "Alex!"

He waved hello and asked her how she was. 

"A tad jealous of you. I'm not going to the wedding tonight." She sighed. "But Charlie doesn't know, so if she stays, I stay."

She turned to the door before he could ask who was getting married and why she was jealous of _him_. 

"Have fun. We'll somehow find another way to entertain ourselves."

He scratched his head a moment before continuing on his quest, only to be stopped by Bernadette from behind her desk. 

"What, no Isobel today?"

He attempted to explain that she, and everyone else, was busy, but the woman had no patience to read his words. 

"Right, well, tell the happy couple I said congratulations, I suppose."

He looked around, thinking perhaps she was addressing someone else, but he was the only one in the lobby, and she was looking down when he made to ask. Alex continued on to Kyle's office. 

"Alex, how are you?"

He told him he was all right, and he was there to pick up medical supplies for the ship.

"Ah, yes. Michael and Maria _would_ get married on the ship, wouldn't they? I don't even know what else they have in common."

There was a humming in Alex's ears as he accepted the bag Kyle gave him, and he didn't hear anything else; he traipsed back to the cabin. 

Max took the bag and thanked him when he went inside, hurrying back out the back, but all he could do was sit heavily.

Michael and Maria would get married.

Michael would--

Alex stood and went back outside to the sea. Water, he understood. He waded in with his crutch until he could float, then tossed it haphazardly and swam.

For the first time since he came to land, he missed his tail.

When he was far deeper than the humans had deemed safe, he was pulled under by claws on his arm, Flint poking at his face and his flank. Alex pointed at the surface, and Flint nodded. 

He tried to explain that the human he'd wanted to be with already had a mate.

Flint asked if he was sure.

Alex wasn't sure; he supposed he could have misunderstood. 

His brother drew a line across his hand; did he want to come back if--

Alex nodded. He had no desire to be on land if he couldn't be with Michael. 

Then Flint would visit the witch so that he could get his tail back. 

Alex wondered why he wasn't scared of her anymore, and Flint snorted.

He could be just as brave as the baby. 

Alex shoved at him and began his swim back.

* * *

He clambered back to their room. Michael's room. He found a towel and dried himself off halfheartedly. Then he dropped back into the bed. If he'd heard right, this was the last time he'd be here. Alex picked up a pillow and hugged it to his stomach.

He didn't get long to wallow. Liz knocked on the door and peeked in. 

"Alex, it's almost time to go. You ready?"

He sat up and put the pillow back to consider her. Maybe when he got his tail back, he could bring Rosa back for her. He indicated his wet clothes and told her he needed a minute to change. 

"All right. Bring another change of clothes, too, we're staying out overnight."

Alex nodded and scooched across the bed to get to the dresser.

* * *

The deck of the dhow was set up with several chairs and a podium. Alex sat down, and Max and Liz joined him. Isobel was reading the papers at the podium. Michael was tying knots in the ropes, and Maria stood at the wheel. 

The sun was setting and the shore was out of sight by the time Michael and Maria joined Isobel at the podium. Alex couldn't take his eyes off of Michael. He had an extra fancy, bright blue jacket on that gave Alex a twinge somewhere deep in his chest. 

And Michael smiled.

He couldn't be here if that smile wasn't for him. He couldn't.

"Let's do this, let's get married," Michael said, waving the girls closer.

Liz grabbed Max's hand, and Alex's too. 

The trio signed the papers, and Michael presented a box. "I actually tracked down that Italian jeweler for our rings, I think they might start sending us fruit baskets. He was awfully excited when I commissioned four more rings."

Alex heard what he was saying, but all he could see was him putting a ring on Maria's finger, and he had to pull his hand from Liz's and walk away. 

"Wh-- Alex, are you all right?" Michael called after him. 

He nodded without turning and motioned toward the back of the ship. 

"Go on," Isobel said.

He watched until Alex disappeared behind the far wall before he continued.

* * *

Alex leaned over the railing in the dark, a view he'd so often imagined. He should have known that the best human in the world was already claimed by another. Salt dripped down his face, an invitation to rejoin the sea. A glow in the waves caught his eye.

Flint.

His brother, wide-eyed, held out a stone just like the one he'd used to gain legs and jerked his head toward the deeper water. His other brothers brandished pikes at the ship and frowned up at him. They'd turn it over if he wanted. They'd do anything to stop him being upset.

Alex shook his head at his eldest brothers, then he nodded to Flint. He swam forward and waved him down with both arms. Alex pushed himself up to sit on the railing and tip himself over. 

"Alex?"

He smiled sadly at Michael, standing between Max and Liz, and hit the sea heavily.

"Alex!"

* * *

**Michael and Alex (Follower) (🐟)**

Max grabbed the back of Michael's jacket before he could follow. 

"Olympic swimmer," Liz reminded him.

All he did was let out a noise of distress as he eyed the waves, looking for any sign of him. "What's the record for holding one's breath?"

Max released him, and he shoved off his boots and jacket and dove over the edge without hesitation.

"Alex! Alex!" He took a deep breath and fought buoyancy by forcing himself beneath the waves, where he came face to face with Alex, who was less distressed and more perplexed. He gasped out all his air and surfaced. 

Alex surfaced, too, slowly. 

"Are you okay?" Michael asked. 

He turned his head. "Yes."

"Alex! Your voice!" He noticed cuts on his neck and reached toward him, only for Alex to back away and sink enough that only his face was visible. "What's that, on your neck? Are you hurt?"

He blinked. "Breathing."

"Well, good, because I thought you were drowning."

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Drowning?" he repeated. 

"I couldn't see you. You can hold your breath for a long time, huh? Look, I have something for you." He pulled the box from earlier from his pocket. "I got you one, too. I didn't want to wear mine if you didn't have one."

Michael found one of Alex's claws and dropped a smooth bit of metal into his palm. 

As he examined it, Michael suddenly disappeared beneath the waves, and Alex followed as soon as he registered it.

First, he saw his father's pike sticking out of Michael's left palm. It was beginning to rip through where his fingers connected; the ring there glinted in the star light.

Second, he saw his father, who seemed to be swimming to the seafloor as fast as he could with Michael under his arm.

Third, he saw that Michael had lost consciousness, from the pain or from the lack of air, he wasn't sure.

It was no trouble for Alex to catch up to him, no trouble to get in front of his father and growl with his whole body.

His father sneered, but he released Michael, who slowly rose toward where he belonged. Alex ducked the lunge aimed at him and slammed into Michael. He knew his father would be on his tail in a moment, but he had to get his human to the air.

Not _his_ human, but he still had to do it.

Alex felt a claw scrape at his fluke and braced himself to push Michael as far up as he could. He chanced a look down only to witness all three of his brothers tackling their father. 

They broke into the night air. Michael swallowed a sob and coughed up water. 

"Michael? Are you--" He clearly wasn't okay. "C-Can you--"

"Alex," he said, "You have... a really pr-pretty tail... and... my hand hurts..."

The pike had split his hand and fallen away at some point on their way back up. Alex struggled to pull his own shirt over his head for a moment before he simply ripped it to wrap around the injury. Michael drifted in and out of consciousness as he did so; Alex sang to him softly in the hopes of distracting him from the pain. 

"Please don't leave," Michael said when he ran out of shirt. He even seemed cognizant. "Alex, don't go."

"You have Maria."

"No," he said. "No. Oh no. I don't. Alex, _Isobel_ has Maria. That, up there, was theatrics. Pretend. I thought Liz told you."

Alex searched his face. "I don't understand."

"Because you're a fish."

"Am not."

"Alex, you have a fish tail." Michael shook his head. "Explains a lot, really, but that doesn't matter, because I still want you."

* * *

**Alex (Wait) (💋)**

Alex sunk slightly to consider this. He eyed Michael's wrapped hand, and finally nodded at it. "My father did that. He was going to kill you."

"So you saved my life again. Alex, ask me for anything, I'll give it."

Alex squeezed his shoulder. "Wait." He dove back down once Michael nodded. 

His eldest brothers held their father at pike-point, and Flint went to Alex immediately to check him over. His brother let out a snarl when he found the mark at the end of his tail, and the tips of his brothers' pikes drew blood from their unimpressed father's neck.

Alex waved Flint back and pressed his arms to his sides demonstrably, then looked back at the king of the Dead Sea. He pointed to the seafloor that he'd been so desperate to get to with Michael in tow.

His brothers nodded, and Flint swapped places with the oldest, who went to Alex and held up a claw. Alex pressed their hands together and bowed his head to the new king. 

He swam back up to Michael, but Michael was gone. No, he was on a rowboat with his brother, both oars sequestered under his right arm. Max looked annoyed. 

"He said wait! We're waiting!"

"You're _hurt_. Alex, tell him we have to go."

"Michael," he said. "You have to go."

"Alex!" He leaned over the edge of the boat dangerously, and Max pitched his weight in the opposite direction to make up for it. "I waited. Are you coming with us?"

"No leg. Only tail." He swished it nervously.

"So?"

"I can't. You need help."

"Michael," Max said gently. "He doesn't belong with us. He belongs in the sea."

"But I belong with him!"

Alex caught him before he could get back in the water. He leaned his forehead against Michael's. "Boring down there. No doctor, either."

"Alex, I want to be where you are." His right hand found the lines of Alex's jaw. Michael leaned back slightly, only to push forward and cover Alex's lips with his own. It was everything at once; it was their worlds coming together and joining. He was careful not to scratch Michael as he threaded his claws through his damp hair.

"Finally," said Max from the opposite side of the boat.

Alex only broke away when he felt a strange sensation in his tail. It wasn't quite painful, but it got his attention all the same.

"Alex?"

He made to reassure Michael only to notice that his hands were declawed again. He turned away as he began to hack up seawater, no longer fit to breathe it. Max and Michael hauled him on to the rowboat in alarm. He had his leg back.

"Are you okay, Alex? Talk to me."

"Yes, yes." He laughed and pulled Michael down to him to kiss soundly.

After approximately a minute, Max spoke, causing them both to jump. "I'm happy for you two, but we should probably get your hand looked at, Michael. Immediately. Give me the oars."

"Damn, and here I had forgotten about it," Michael said. He pulled Alex up from the floor to sit beside him and passed the oars over. "I suppose you want us to sit properly, too?"

"I really don't care about that."

"Good," Michael said, leaning on Alex, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders and kept him close. 

"That was dramatic!" Liz scolded once they were properly back on board. Alex's crutches were still leaning against the railing, and he grabbed one to help support Michael. Liz lightly slapped at Alex's arm, and he hissed back. Neither of them meant anything by it. "Are we done jumping overboard now? Are we-- _dios_ Mikey that is a lot of blood."

The scraps of what was formerly Alex's shirt were dyed red, and Michael glanced at his hand with a giggle as she grabbed at him. "Alex is a mermaid."

"Am not."

"I'm not gonna argue semantics with a, with a fish man."

Alex just rolled his eyes.

"Max, what is he talking about?" Liz asked as they dragged Michael to a table and sat him down. Max shook his head and went to grab the medical supplies. "What happened?"

"I don't think Alex's dad liked me," Michael said. His amusement fell away as Liz unwrapped his hand, and he dropped his head to the table with a groan. Max laid out supplies and the pair of them went about cleaning his hand. Liz carefully eased off his ring, slick with blood.

She looked at Alex. "Got your voice back, huh? What happened?"

"I'm from there," he said. He indicated the sea. "Not a fish, but not human. My father--" He gestured vaguely with his hand. "He thinks humans are only good for dying. Attacked Michael, tried to drown him. Got Michael away. My brothers took our father away."

"Mermaid," Michael said to the table. "With a tail." He pushed himself part way up to look at Max and Liz and whisper, "He's gorgeous. I love him so much."

"Right then," she said, glancing at Alex and wrapping Michael's hand back up tightly. "You need stitches."

"I need opiates," he corrected.

"We don't just keep opiates on the ship, Michael," Max said tiredly. 

Michael groaned again and leaned against Alex. He rubbed his arm as comfortingly as he could. 

"Isobel's going to be pissed," Max continued. 

"Cause I ruined her wedding?"

"Because you got hurt! We need to port and get you to a doctor, so walk me through it."

"No, I don't want to see Kyle, I want to sleep. Alex, will you come sleep with me? I'm so tired."

"That'd be the blood loss," Liz observed.

"Blood is very important. Oh, I would like some dry clothes, too."

"I suppose. Max, you get them dry clothes, I'll get him liquids. Alex, make sure he doesn't go anywhere. Michael, don't go anywhere!"

Alex nodded and pulled Michael into his arms carefully. Michael abruptly laughed after a minute. "Alex, Alex, I've been trying to figure out why we sank before, when you rescued us. That was him, too, wasn't it?"

"Yes." He smoothed back his hair. "He followed me to you. I'm sorry about your ship."

"Followed you? Followed you... following us. You'd been following us for a while?" 

"A while," Alex mumbled. "You played for me."

"The night before! I thought I was dreaming." He grinned. "I'm glad I wasn't."

"If I wasn't there, my father wouldn't have capsized you at all." He saw Max and Liz hovering nearby pretending not to listen. 

"Small price to pay to get to meet you, Alex."

"Even knowing everything?"

"Hmm. Do you like your father?"

"No, but I'm from him--"

Michael scoffed. "People aren't their fathers. He doesn't matter. I-- I love _you_ , Alex."

He combed his fingers through Michael's wet hair as he digested those words. "And Maria?"

"No, Alex, she loves Isobel. Maria, and Liz, are like sisters to me."

Liz and Max decided to rejoin them then. "Drink," she commanded of Michael, pushing a cup of water in front of him. He did so with a grimace. "Alex, I'm sorry there's been this misunderstanding. I could have explained better, but I assumed Michael would." She shot him a glare that he didn't catch. "Max and I, as a couple, are... expected. Isobel and Maria are not. They can't do the same things as us without being questioned. The questions could lead to bad things happening to them. Michael was just keeping the questions away."

"Being a good brother, in short," Max said. 

Alex frowned and indicated he and Michael. "Expected?"

Michael put down his cup, empty. "No, Alex. But Maria and Isobel are still together. We can be, too, if you want."

"Yes," Alex said quickly. "I love you, too."

He brightened immediately and leaned his forehead against Alex's.

"Aw," said Liz.

"Yes, you're quite a pair, but seriously Michael, you need to see Kyle. Tell me how to sail us back."

She poked at her husband's arm. "Look at him, he's delirious. Maria can sail us back."

"But they're--" He gestured at the main cabin with a frown.

Liz sighed. "He'll be okay for a little while. Let's get everything ready before we get them. Mikey, you rest. Alex, make sure he doesn't make it worse."

"I'll help you to your cabin," Max said. 

"My legs are fine," Michael insisted, shooing him away. He stood up and instantly buckled back into his seat. "Whoa."

"Blood loss," Liz and Max chorused. 

"Right. I don't think I should do stairs. How about I lie down right here?" Michael put his head down on the table again. Alex rubbed his back soothingly.

"Good point. Here are the dry clothes." Max and Liz left the two of them alone. 

Alex pawed through the clothes one-handed and passed Michael the shirt with buttons, then pulled his own shirt over his head. He watched Michael take his off very slowly and carefully so as not to jostle his hand. He put his right arm through the sleeve of the dry shirt, but he stared at his left a moment before simply letting it hang open and half on. 

"Alex," he said. "Can I lean on you?"

He nodded and gently folded Michael into his arms. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't do anything wrong." He snuggled into him. "Do you still have it? The ring?"

Alex showed him where he pushed it past his thumb knuckle in his hurry to dive after Michael. 

"Wrong finger. Goes on the second last one on your left."

He moved it as directed. "So I'm yours?"

Michael pressed a kiss to the crook of his neck. "Mine. And I'm yours."

Alex threaded his fingers through Michael's hair and watched Liz and Max dragging things around before they finally knocked on the door. 

"Michael. Rosa's not dead."

He looked up sharply. "What?"

"I think. I've spoken with her, in the sea."

Michael buried his face in Alex's shoulder. "Is she a mermaid, too?"

"No. We called her Sea Witch. She only talks when you touch her, but she helped me get my legs."

"That does sound like her."

"I should tell Liz."

"Tomorrow. Enough has happened today."

It took them a moment to realize Isobel was standing over them, her arms crossed. 

"Sorry, Isobel," Alex said. "My fault."

"It's _not_ your fault," Michael objected. 

"Still sorry."

She gave each of them an inscrutable look before dropping into the chair across from them. "Alex, you have a lovely voice." She glared at Michael. _"One_ day. One day, no drama. Was that really too much to ask for?"

"I've _been_ holding back! I wasn't going to propose until tomorrow, but I didn't set out to get injured by a fish man, either, Izzy."

"I'm not a fish man."

"Wasn't talking about you."

"Are you both drunk?" Isobel wondered.

"No, I just lost a whole lot of blood, and he's a mermaid."

"We're called sirens," Alex told her, "Not fish people or mermaids."

"Mermans."

"Sirens." Alex sighed and held Michael tighter. "Babies are mermers."

"Am _I_ drunk?" Isobel asked. "Look, have an explanation in the morning. I'm going to lie down until we get there and then I'm going to sleep with my wife. Can I do that?"

"Have fun, bye." Michael attempted to wave, but his hand fell short. "Alex, will you sing to me again?"

He nodded, and Michael fell asleep to the sound of his voice.

* * *

He woke up to the sound of Kyle saying, "A hook couldn't do this kind of damage!"

"Just fix it, doc," he croaked. "And give me some opiates."

"You don't have enough blood for opiates," Kyle told him. "Are you going to hold your hand still or shall we knock you back out?"

"That's the worst news I've heard all day. How can one not have enough blood for opiates?" Michael said. He flinched away every time Kyle tried to touch him. "And I'm doing my best to hold it still. I can't really feel it except it hurts a lot. So. No."

"Alex, you mind holding his wrist down so I can work?"

He felt gentle hands on his arm and gentle lips on his hair. He focused on Alex rather than the thread piercing his skin to hold his palm together. 

"What caused the damage, Michael?"

He heard Max try to answer. "We told you--" 

"I'm not buying it. It could be important."

"I fell on a pike."

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Backwards? Entry," he said, and turned Michael's hand over to continue stitching. "Exit."

"I'm a clumsy drunk. Don't tell Maria."

"If you were drunk, you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning because you don't have enough blood to filter it out. You know, I don't care how it happened. Was the blade clean, at least?"

Michael looked at Alex. 

"What do you mean by clean?" he asked.

"Would it have other, old blood, or rust?"

"No, it's not for hunting. It's for show." His brothers only just crafted them for their trip north; the former king's was their example. "Salty though."

"Awfully sharp for show," Michael muttered.

"Actually, you'd be better off if it _had_ been sharper," Kyle said. He finished off the stitches and carefully dabbed at the wound with something that made Michael wince. "I seriously doubt you'll retain use of your last two fingers."

"But will I still be able to play guitar?"

"Like the state of your hand would ever stop you," said Max.

"Maybe," Kyle said. He began to wrap bandages around his hand. "Certainly not right away."

He groaned and looked around. They were home; Kyle had set them up at the desk. "Where are the girls?"

"I didn't want a crowd. I kept Max in case you needed to be held down, and Alex refused to leave."

Michael poked Kyle in the forehead as Alex hissed. _"Never_ tell Alex to leave. I love him."

Max audibly pressed his hand into his forehead.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Now, _that_ makes sense. At least more than you and Maria." He smiled at Alex. "You could do better, but I respect your choices."

"I'm right here," Michael said; Alex pulled him close.

"Barely. I'll be back tomorrow to make sure you're still alive. If you pull the stitches I can't guarantee you'll keep your hand, so be careful."

"Nobody _needs_ all their limbs," he grumbled.

Kyle returned his tools to his bag. "If that's going to be your attitude, don't wake me up in the middle of the night again. Get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids."

"I already do that."

"I'll see that he does," Alex told him. He and Max helped Michael to their room. "I'll get you a drink."

"I think he's nominated himself your caretaker," Max said. 

"Is he coming back?"

"Yes. You do realize you just let Kyle in on the secret, right?"

"I did?"

Max nodded.

"Oops. He seemed to take it well."

"He probably would have figured it out on his own. You two haven't exactly been subtle since we got back on the dhow."

Alex sat beside Michael, kissed his cheek, and put a cup of water in his good hand.

"What is subtle?" he asked as Michael drank.

"Keeping your relationship a secret from people who don't know."

"Like Maria and Isobel do."

"Exactly."

"Is that why Isobel asks me to walk with her?"

Michael nodded. "I did the same with Maria."

Alex considered Isobel for a minute and concluded, "I wouldn't kiss her."

"I'm gonna," Max said, getting up, "I'm gonna go tell the girls you'll probably live."

"Thanks."

Alex leaned over the cup, only half empty. "Finish drinking."

"Yes sir," Michael said and did as he was told. When he finished, he stretched over him to set it on the night table, though he couldn't quite reach. 

Alex took the cup from him and put it to the side. "Now rest."

Michael nodded, shrugged off his shirt and pulled Alex down with him, closer than the night before. He wasn't as warm. 

"Are you cold?" he asked, holding his hand to Michael's forehead and neck in succession. "Do you want me to move?"

"Don't you _dare_ ," Michael said. He dragged a blanket over them. "I'm fine. You've got me."

"I've got you," he agreed, pressing his lips wherever he could reach until Michael fell back asleep. "I've got you."


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out we had to go get Rosa. Turns out we couldn't just leave her down there.

* * *

**Alex and Michael (Sea Witch Again) (Find and Retrieve)**

Alex took his new role as Michael's caretaker very seriously, though it didn't actually change much. Alex still followed him around constantly. He did make sure Michael didn't forget about the state of his hand when he got distracted. 

Such as when he sat them all down during lunch and explained what he was. That came with the story of how he changed, and that revelation caused Liz to burst into tears.

"She's alive?" Liz demanded when she was calm enough to speak.

Alex looked down uncomfortably. "Sometimes."

"I can work with that." She looked to Maria. "You'll help?"

"Of course I will, but we're out of practice."

"What will you do?" Alex asked, bewildered.

"Put my research to good use." She patted her husband's arm, and he found a piece of paper to begin a list. "Would you be able to find her again?"

"Yes, but it's too deep for humans." 

Michael attempted to put his arm around Alex's shoulders, but he caught his elbow and held his hand safely. "Can you change back?" he wondered.

"I don't know." Alex wasn't sure how it worked now; the first two times he needed the stone, but the last time he'd been kissing Michael and wishing he could go with him... "Maybe."

"We could get diving suits," Isobel suggested. "That Seibe guy in Germany developed a new sort."

"Yes, good idea. You said you have to be touching her to talk to her?"

Alex nodded. "I heard her in my head, not like us talking now. But she was moving only when touching. I thought she was like me, a siren, at first. She's attached to the sea floor with black rock."

"We'll come back to that. Do you remember exactly what she told you?"

He sunk back into the couch. "That she couldn't help me once I was on land. That maybe her sister could. She gave me a stone."

"She remembers me, that's good. Anything else?" Liz pressed.

"You don't have to interrogate him," Michael said, burrowing into his shoulder.

Alex patted his arm. "It's all right. I want to help. She thought she was better off down there, and I'd be better off up here. I think she was only half right."

Liz snorted and knelt in front of him. "How did you mean she's attached with rock?"

"The black rock," he said, making a hand motion like he was collecting pebbles. "It's... not salt, or mud."

"Bitumen?"

Alex shrugged, then tapped his collar bone. "She's covered in it up to here and attached to the floor with it."

She dropped her head to his knee. 

"Not good?"

"Was it fused to her skin or just on top?" Michael asked when Liz only shook her head. 

"Not fused, I think?"

"Armor," she muttered. She looked up and raised her voice. "Either way, it doesn't matter. If she could change you from a siren to a human, I don't see why she couldn't get rid of the bitumen before we bring her back."

"She helped. She said I had to do it myself," Alex said with uncertainty. "I don't know if I needed the stone to begin with, but I didn't yesterday."

Liz sighed. "This would be so much easier if I could talk to her."

He turned and kissed Michael's cheek before he dragged himself up. "Then I'll go see if I can change back again."

It took a beat for the rest of them to follow Alex out the front door. 

"Alex, wait!"

Michael caught up first, and Alex caught him when he stumbled over the brick path. 

"I want to help."

"And I love you for that. I just don't want you to go rushing off. Slow down a minute."

He eyed Liz, Max, Maria and Isobel standing behind Michael. He looked back. "Your family is my family. I help my family."

"Yes, we are, but let's make a plan," Liz said. "I don't want you to stress yourself out changing too much, and you already changed twice yesterday."

He nodded and went back inside. He'd only managed to stay awake as long as he did the night before out of worry for Michael.

"I'll have so many questions that require follow-ups, too," Liz said from the desk. "Maybe we should wait for that diving suit so I can go along. I just know I won't think of everything to have you ask her."

"Diving suit?" Alex repeated.

"It's got a helmet attached to a hose," Isobel said, "That lets us breathe underwater."

"Unless you turn your head. Then the water goes in and you drown," Max said, frowning at his sister and then at his wife.

"No, no, we saw the drawing of the new one; tell him, Michael."

"It has a valve. It keeps the water out no matter what angle your head's at."

"Don't need it," Alex said. "If I change, you all just come on the dhow. Surface to Rosa is only some minutes for me. I tell you her answers, you give me follow-ups, I go back down. If I don't change, I can get one of my brothers to help."

There was a moment in which everyone silently agreed that they would try it as soon as possible.

"I call knots," Maria said.

"Oh, you do, huh?" Michael said. 

"Like you're in any state to do them right now." She patted his cheek and went out back to the dock. 

"Well, maybe I _wanted_ to navigate. How about that?" he called after her.

"You did both when it was just us," Isobel pointed out.

"Yes, but it's not as fun."

"You'll just be following Alex, what could be more fun than that?" Liz said. "Max, help me think of questions. I definitely want her to know that we miss her and she can come back."

"I'll help Maria set up," Isobel said after a moment. 

"You will, will you?" Michael dropped onto the couch and pulled Alex down with him. "Alex, does changing hurt you?"

"Only the first time. It just made me a little tired yesterday."

Michael brushed Alex's hair behind his ear. "It's safe?"

"Yes. Then I'll come back to you."

Max cleared his throat before they were close enough to touch and held out his hand. "We cleaned the blood off for you."

"Oh, thanks."

Alex snatched the ring from Max's palm and examined it curiously. The grooves in the metal matched his own. "It's not pretty enough for you," he complained before he slid it on Michael's right ring finger.

"But I like it," he said, kissing him shortly. "And I love you."

Alex returned the kiss. "I love you."

Liz made a sound very nearly out of the range of human hearing. "You two are so sweet."

"You're a noisy voyeur," Michael retorted. "Alex, do you want to go try to change?"

There was a knock on the door before he could answer. "Doctor's in!"

Michael groaned. "I'm fine, go away!"

Alex patted his shoulder as he got up to let Kyle in. 

" _Thank you_ , Alex. Hello, Max, Liz." They gave him a short wave. He took Alex's seat beside Michael, which only furthered his annoyance. He dropped his bag on the floor. "You look a lot better today. Let me see your hand."

Michael offered his right palm. 

"You realize the more difficult you are, the longer it'll take me to leave, right?"

He sighed dramatically and switched hands. 

Kyle poked different parts of his hand and asked, "Can you feel this?"

For the most part, Michael's answer was yes and it hurt, but he couldn't feel anything in his last two fingers or in most of his palm to the right of the cut. 

"As expected. Let's change the bandage. Don't let it get wet."

"But--" He looked at Alex. It was going to be hard to help him one-handed. Alex raised an eyebrow and moved closer to watch Kyle wrap Michael's hand back up.

"Don't. Let it. Get wet," Kyle said firmly. "I'll leave you more gauze. You need to change it before it soaks through, at least once a day. Understand?"

"Yes," Michael said tersely.

"Or I can take the gauze with me and come back later to do this again?"

"I got it, you don't have to come back," he grumbled, pulling his hand away.

Kyle shook his head and looked up at Alex. "At least I know you'll make sure he's all right."

Alex nodded and accepted the roll of gauze that he took from his bag. "Thank you."

"Uh huh. Come get more of that if you run out before next week. If your hand develops an unusual stench, come see me immediately." Kyle picked up his bag as Michael grimaced. "Good morning, Alex, Liz, Max."

The two at the desk waved again as he left, and Alex reclaimed his seat next to Michael. He moved his injured hand out of the way before hugging him tightly. That's how they stayed until Liz decided her list was complete and Maria announced that the ship was ready. 

"Tell me the questions in the water," Alex said to Liz. 

The pair untangled themselves, but Alex held his human in place when he tried to follow. "You have to stay dry."

"My hand has to stay dry," he corrected. Michael put his arm over his head. "I'll keep it out of the water, stay in the shallows. See? I just, I want to go with you and make sure you don't get hurt."

" _You're_ hurt," Alex said, but he relented. He kicked his boot off just inside the door and let Michael and Liz follow him outside. He figured he might as well keep his clothes dry, so he stripped down and asked Michael, "Hold onto these for me?"

He nodded, speechless for looking Alex over even as he waded into the water. 

Liz shook Michael's shoulder. "Your mouth is hanging open, Mikey."

He snapped it shut, then called, "Alex, have I mentioned you're the most gorgeous person on the planet?"

Alex turned back to smile at him. "Once or twice." 

Fully in the water, he could feel a pull in his mind. He could have his tail, and he could have his legs. Whichever he needed, the sea would give him. 

He dipped below the surface as his thighs fused together, and his scales appeared like spilled ink on parchment. 

He didn't stay down too long; he knew they would worry, and he wanted to keep his air. 

Liz and Michael both stood in the water up to their ankles, Liz with her skirts bundled at her side and Michael with his clothes and crutch under his arm. 

Alex scooted himself closer to them, careful not to shred his raw scales on the halite. "It worked," he said pointlessly, as they were both staring at his tail. He didn't know why he was nervous. 

"Gorgeous," Michael repeated. 

"I'm going to have to agree with Mikey there," Liz said. "Fantastic."

He looked down, but he couldn't stop himself from grinning. "The questions?" he prompted. 

"What? Oh, yes. First, I need her to know that I miss her terribly, and so does Papa."

"Papa?"

"Our dad. He runs a restaurant in the nearest city. That's not important. What's important is that we want Rosa back."

Alex nodded. 

"Then I need you to ask her about the black rock that's on her, if she can get it off, and finally, if she _wants_ to come back to us."

"That's all?"

"For the time being. Are you ready?"

"Yes. Are you?"

Liz nodded and backed out of the water to head inside. 

Michael knelt beside Alex and put his things in a careful pile where they'd stay dry. "Do you feel all right?"

He wasn't sure what to make of the heated look on his face, but he nodded. "Yes, I'm all right. You reminded me that when I first saw you, I thought that you must be the most beautiful human."

"Do you still think that?"

"No, Michael," he said, pushing his claws through his hair. "Now I know it."

Michael was crowding him in an instant, left wrist against his neck, fingers in his wet hair, and mouth desperate against Alex's. He melted into him just as quickly.

Distantly, they heard the door open and close, but they were too preoccupied to care. 

They pulled away to breathe only to realize Isobel was standing nearby with her eyebrows raised and arms crossed. 

"What?" Michael asked breathlessly.

"Do you need more time? Shall I tell Liz you're _not_ ready yet?"

"A couple more minutes," Alex said. He pounced on Michael with a splash, and he was more than receptive to that. 

They barely heard Isobel huff a laugh and go back inside. 

Once the promised minutes passed, Michael rested his forehead against Alex's. "Let's go get Liz's sister."

He pressed his lips to Michael's once more before flopping backwards into deeper water. Alex exchanged his air for liquid while waiting for Michael to board.

Given he had to stop every couple minutes to allow the dhow to catch up to him, the swim took over two hours, but he finally called out, "The fissure is below."

Liz leaned over the railing. "Max and I will lower down a row boat so we don't have to shout. Take your time."

Alex caught a sour expression on Michael's face and guessed that he wasn't to be allowed. He ducked beneath the waves with a laugh and dove straight down.

Fussing with the statues at the entrance of the fissure was a siren with a silvery, black-speckled tail: his mother. Alex touched her shoulder and found himself in an embrace. 

She looked happier than he'd ever seen her. She patted the skin beneath her rib cage then threw her arm out: it was because she no longer had a mate.

He wanted to know why she stayed if he had made her so unhappy. 

She tapped his nose -- her children, of course -- then pulled on Alex's shoulder. What was he doing there?

He gestured at the cave, then to the surface, a hand over his heart. He wanted to return her to her family.

His mother looked delighted. She measured his height against her, about five years in the past, when she'd found the human and brought her there. Despite heavy stones tied around her waist, she was still alive, in the way only certain beings could be. 

Flint had seen and followed her, helped to set her up in her own cave, and they never told the king for fear of the girl getting ripped apart. 

Alex nodded, but she caught his hand before he could swim deeper. She touched the ring on his finger.

He bowed his head and placed his other hand just below his rib cage. He had a human mate. She could meet him, if she wanted. He just had to ask Rosa a few questions.

She nodded and followed him into the cave. 

The witch woke from his touch with a look of pure disappointment. "You weren't supposed to come back. It was supposed to be better."

"It is better. I'm here for you, Rosa," Alex said, "For Liz."

She blinked rapidly. "What?" Her voice was small. "How do you know my name? How do you--"

"Liz told me to tell you that she and your father miss you. They want you to come home."

Rosa flailed and tried to get away from him. "I can't go back. I can't."

He pulled her in tight, gentle hands on her spine. "Why not? Is it the black rock?"

She stilled in his hold, but she was tense. "They can't want me back after what happened. They can't."

"They do, Rosa. Your sister is waiting in a ship at the surface for me to come back with your answers."

After a minute, she finally relaxed into Alex's arms. "What answers?"

"Can you remove the black rock?"

"Yes." She looked toward his mother, though he wasn't so sure she could actually see. "It's art."

"Do you want to go back?"

Rosa turned her head to him, chewing on her lip in deliberation. "Yes," she said after a long minute. 

"Then I'll tell her so, and I'll be back soon with more questions. All right?"

She gave a sharp nod, and Alex let her go, unsure if she'd stay awake. This time, she didn't instantly drift off. She began to systematically peel the soft stone away from her skin.

He took his mother's hand and swam up with her to the row boat.

Liz questioned him as soon as his head was above water. "Did you talk to her? What did she--" His mother broke the surface after him, looking wary and fully derailing Liz's train of thought. "Who is this?"

"Yes, I talked to Rosa. She's removing the rock now and wants to come back. This is my mother. She kept Rosa safe from my father, and she wants to meet Michael." His mother tugged on his arm as Liz processed all that. "Just a moment."

The sirens sunk beneath the waves. Alex's mother knew more about Rosa's situation. She indicated that she would help, but first she wanted to know if his mate was the man in the boat. 

He shook his head; Max was Liz's mate. Michael was on the bigger ship, which Alex pointed toward.

They surfaced again, and Alex prompted Liz, "Follow-up questions?"

"Um, do--" She looked at Max, who nodded in encouragement, the sheet of parchment with their notes held against his shirt. "Do we need to prepare something for her body to have her properly alive?"

His mother wrapped a claw around the edge of the boat and waved Liz closer. When she went, she pressed her lips to Liz's forehead, then she drew a vertical line from her own mouth to nose. 

"What--"

She dove down before Liz could ask, so she turned to Alex, dumbfounded, who translated. "She'll take care of that, but Rosa may need help breathing air again."

"She's-- She's bringing her?" Alex nodded, and Liz shortly fell into Max's arms. "She's bringing her." She straightened, turned to the dhow and shouted, "Rosa's coming!"

Alex reached up and patted Liz's arm. "I will help. Can Michael come down and meet my mother?"

"The boat's too small for all of us," Max said, looking to the dhow again. "How about, once we have Rosa and help her up, you and Michael use it?"

Alex nodded and dove to catch up with his mother. She smiled at him pleasantly and took his hand before he got too far ahead of her. 

Rosa now floated freely in her cave. The black stone had hidden her clothes: a pale, loosely tied corset and pants. She held her hands together when she saw the sirens, and like when she'd made him the stone, the specks of light migrated to her palms and formed a flower bud.

His mother took it gingerly when offered. She waved Alex to Rosa before she turned their back to them.

He extended a hand, and she took it. "Ready?"

"No," she admitted, but she held on tight nonetheless. As they waited on his mom, she said, "There's something I don't want to tell them, Alex."

"What's that?"

"I didn't go overboard because I wanted to."

"Michael said they thought you did."

Rosa sighed and twisted her hair around her free hand. "It's no wonder. I'm sure they didn't tell you I was one mistake from being carted off to a sanitarium, regardless of my family's wishes."

"I don't know what that is."

She considered him carefully. "It's not a good place. If I had killed myself, well, it wouldn't have been so far-fetched."

He tilted his head. "But you didn't."

"Oh, there is no doubt that I am a wretched creature what should have died, Alex." She drew shapes along the back of his hand. "I could have fought before I went over, but they threatened my family. So I went quietly even though I didn't want to die."

Alex's snarl took her by surprise. "Who?"

"It doesn't matter." She patted his cheek. "Really. Because I didn't just go. I took all my bitter spite and sent it out into the world to protect Liz and my Papi."

"Are you sure?"

Rosa nodded.

His mother turned back then; the flower bud had blossomed. She held it gently and led the way out of the fissure.

"Time to go," he guessed. "Hold on."

Rosa wrapped her arms around his neck carefully, and he trailed after his mother. "I have to sleep before I can wake up. Warn me when we're almost there."

He nodded and propelled himself up; her fingers tightened. "Don't be nervous."

"Wow, my nerves have evaporated," she said dryly.

Alex grinned and patted her back. Several minutes later, his mother slowed down, and he said, "We're nearly to the surface."

Rosa took a deep lung full of salt water and gripped Alex. Her hold slowly relaxed, and his mother went to the surface ahead of them. 

"Rosa!" Liz said as soon as their heads were above water. She was holding the flower now. Alex and his mother pushed Rosa up to Max, and he laid her carefully across the boat. His mother reached to Rosa with a significant look to Liz and pressed a claw into the center of Rosa's chest. 

"The flower there," Alex said hoarsely. 

As she placed the flower, his mother repeatedly tapped on her own mouth.

"Hit there to get the water out for her." Alex coughed out the liquid in his lungs to demonstrate. 

Max looked to Liz, seeking permission, his hands in a fist above Rosa's chest.

"Do it."

The flower melted into Rosa with the force of Max's thumps; she turned after three and violently sputtered sea water. 

"Rosa! Rosa? Talk to me."

She pushed at Liz's head to get her away from her face, then spat out more water. 

"Hard to talk through water," Alex said.

"Right, yeah," Liz said.

Max shook out a towel and offered it to her, and she quickly wrapped it around her shoulders, then bumped into Max's. She gurgled questioningly. 

"Yes. I wish you could have been there." He looked to Liz thoughtfully. "We could do another wedding."

Liz gave a wet laugh as Rosa rolled her eyes. Alex and his mother rested their heads on the side. They had tied up to the side of the dhow while they were below, and the others were watching from above. 

"How is she?" Maria called down. 

Rosa looked up excitedly. 

"Still working on air," Liz replied.

She let out a huff that was mostly water, and continued to dribble. 

"Can I hug you yet?" Liz asked after another moment. 

Rosa pulled her sister in. "You could have hugged me all along," she choked out.

"Don't talk yet," was Liz's teary answer. 

"As though anything could ever stop me."

"Tell me how you're feeling, then. Can you see?" Rosa's eyes were still covered in a white film.

"Not much. Enough."

"And you can move and everything?"

"And everything. Lizzie, I haven't eaten in five years."

"Well, can you climb? We have food in the galley."

She looked to the dhow with uncertainty. The ropes flapped against the hull. 

"We'll help you," Max said. 

She stood with a nod, and the pair guided her up. 

On deck, Isobel and Maria were ready to help, too, Michael relegated to the background because of his hand. Once Rosa was on the safe side of the railing, Max looked at him and said, "Go down, Alex wants you to meet his mom."

"Really?"

"Yes." He frowned and reminded him, "Don't get that hand wet!"

"Yeah, yeah," Michael said, grabbing Alex's pile of clothes under his left arm. He climbed down to the rowboat one handed to find Alex and his mother making faces at each other, though he looked at him with unabashed glee when he sat. "Hello," he said nervously. 

She surveyed him with sharp eyes just like Alex's. In fact, he and his mother were very obviously related, from their eyes to their chins. The only big difference seemed to be their tails, their flukes just barely visible, hers silver speckled black and his far darker than the deep water. Suddenly, Alex's mother rose up and grappled Michael tightly. He froze.

"It's a hug, Michael," Alex said. "She won't hurt you, I wouldn't let her."

"S-Surprised me." He gently hugged her back.

She bumped into her son with her hip and released Michael, only to poke at his jaw.

"She likes your voice."

"Uh, thank you."

His mother smiled. 

"I do, too," Alex added, a matching smile on his face.

"Aw, Alex. You're the one who sounds--" His mother sunk beneath the waves before Michael could finish. "Is she leaving already?"

He shrugged. "I'll see."

She had his face between her claws as soon as he was under. She pressed kisses all over his forehead. Alex had learned long ago to let her, but she backed away after only a minute, still smiling at him.

He looked up at the rowboat and back to his mother. 

She took his claws and pumped his arms in congratulations. Then she held up one hand for a goodbye. Alex met her palm and watched her swim away.

"How do I sound?" he asked. 

Michael startled. "Perfect." He saw that Alex was alone in the water. "She really left already?"

"Yes, but she likes you. Do you need to follow me again?"

"I can get us home," he said flippantly. "Get up here. I've missed you."

Alex nodded and focused on getting his legs back. Then Michael grabbed his arm with his good one to help him onto the boat. "Missed you too. I need a nap."

He pecked his lips. "Clothes, then. Our bed's waiting."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's still one more part!! Big triple wedding!!!!!!


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wedding plans + Wedding + Big Damn Kiss

* * *

**Alex and Michael (It's Better) (#gayrights)**

"Listen up!" Isobel shouted at their small, chattering familial gathering jammed into the living room a week later. Rosa was shoved in between Liz and their father, Arturo. Kyle, Jenna, and Charlie were in the back of the room. "Since we're doing a triple wedding this time, obviously it needs to be three times as big as the other ones."

"Obviously," Rosa said. She was adjusting to being alive on land again fairly well, despite the fact that her father had become extra protective of her. "Of course."

"It doesn't _need_ to be big," Michael said. He and Alex were sharing the love seat. More accurately, Alex was sitting in the love seat, and Michael was sitting on his lap, Alex's arms around his waist, Michael's left hand carefully out of the way. 

She spun on them. "You think anyone would believe _I_ was part of a small wedding?"

"I wouldn't," Kyle offered from the wall.

"Thank you."

"Princesses have big parties," Alex said sagely, and Isobel grinned at him.

"If your dad was the king, does that make you a prince?" Michael wondered. 

Alex only shrugged and squeezed him. 

" _I'll_ take princess." Isobel brushed off the front of her skirts. 

"Aren't married princesses queens?" Maria asked, flicking at a corset string on Isobel's back.

"Sometimes," said Max from the arm of the couch beside Liz, "If they marry a king, but even then it depends."

"I could be a king," said Maria thoughtfully.

Her wife tapped on her chin. "We could both be queens."

Rosa stood up and gave the pair an elaborate, if sarcastic, bow. "My lieges."

"Anyway," Jenna interrupted, "Why are we here?"

"Because you're invited, of course."

"Great, see you then," she said, and tugged her sister along behind her. 

"Congratulations," Charlie said with a wave.

"Damn," Isobel said once they were out the door.

"You should know better than trying to rope Jenna into decorations," Max said.

"Is _that_ what this is?" Kyle asked. "Not that your giant wedding isn't important, but I have patients to attend to. Potentially life and death."

Isobel sighed loudly. "Fine, you can go, everyone else should be enough bodies." 

Kyle saluted her as he left. 

"Will it be in the church again?" Arturo asked. 

"The whole resort would expect an invitation, Papi," Liz said. 

"We don't need any racists crashing in," Rosa said. 

Their father nodded congenially. 

"I'm seeing the dhow _blanketed_ in white roses," Isobel said, and she began to pace the room. 

Max reached over to the desk for a pen and paper as her list of decorations grew. 

"Can my mom and brothers be there?" Alex asked. 

"Of course, yes," Isobel said, stopping her loop to look at him. "Can they get legs as well, or shall we figure out different accommodations?"

He rested his head on Michael's shoulder. "I will talk to them later to find out."

She nodded and continued to list off what she wanted to Max's waiting pen; Liz and Maria added their wishes. If watched closely, they could see Max scribbling in things he wanted as well.

Michael adjusted himself so he could look his fiancee in the eyes, and Alex grabbed his elbow to hold out of the way. "I'm not made of glass," he complained.

"Nor are you made of steel." Alex kissed him gently as he released him, and his hand immediately bounced into the cushion and made Michael wince. "See?"

He only pouted, so Alex kissed him again, and the pout was replaced with a bright smile. "Alex, do sirens have a marriage ceremony?"

He hummed a moment, considering. "It's not really a ceremony, just something potential mates do. That's what the pikes are for."

"What's that like?"

Alex and Flint had watched and listened as their father told their eldest brothers about what amounted to an oath of protection. "The main thing is that we exchange weapons to protect each other."

"Oh. I don't have a weapon." He frowned. "I don't think I'd be comfortable that close to a pike again, either."

"I didn't make one, he said I was too young. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. And I don't need a weapon to protect you, anyway."

"Do you two have anything else to add to your wedding?" Isobel interrupted, causing the pair to jump. Everyone else was staring at them. 

"Sorry, Isobel," Alex said.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "The rest of us participating are already married, you know. I thought you should be more interested."

"I have to see about my family."

"Besides that? Michael, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You don't want anything?"

He dropped his head to Alex's shoulder. "I have everything I want right here."

Isobel grabbed The Tempest and chucked the little playbook at her brother. Alex caught it one-handed, and they were in their own little bubble again.

"What's this one? Good?" he asked, flipping through the pages curiously.

"Oh, it's Shakespeare, it's a play he wrote about two hundred years ago. That one has a happy ending, so I think it's good."

"'I would not wish any companion in the world but you,'" he read, and Michael attempted to hide his blush in Alex's neck when he remembered the day he spent quoting the play to the sea. "You said this, before. Right?"

"Yes, uh, you heard that?"

"I did, but I didn't know what it meant then. I was only starting to learn your language. But I... I felt it. I felt the same. I do still." 

"You were listening," Michael said, an amazed giggle escaping him as he pushed closer to Alex. "You heard me. The chances should have been astronomical but you--"

He patiently let Michael laugh with his nose on his collarbone. He got to play with his hair in the meantime as he glanced through the little book. 

"Alex, I love you, and I can hardly wait to be your husband." 

He carefully put the book aside to kiss Michael. "I love you, too."

Michael hummed contentedly for a moment before he asked, "What is it in your language?"

Alex pressed his hand below Michael's ribs and kissed him again, slowly, even as they heard the sounds of throats clearing behind them. Well, Alex heard them, opened one eye to acknowledge he'd heard, and continued his ministrations until they had to breathe. "Yes?" he asked over Michael's shoulder. (Michael was too dazed to offer a response.)

"If you two have nothing further to add, you may as well go to your room," Isobel said.

"You two are distracting," Maria said, and her wife smacked at her arm. "Well, they are! You want me to think about a wedding when I'm imagining kissing _you_ like that?"

"What, they're kissing? Damn, I can't see that far," Rosa bemoaned. 

Arturo said, "I feel as though they need privacy."

" _We_ need privacy from them," Max said.

"It's sweet," Liz said, leaning her elbow on Max's thigh to look around the bookcase. "Oh, Mikey!"

Michael blinked and shook his head. "What?"

"You two should retire a while. Think on anything else you want for the wedding."

Michael nodded and stood right up, eagerly pulling Alex along with him. "I _am_ tired."

"Slower," Alex warned, still getting used to the artificial leg they had just put together two days before. Michael offered his arm as he tested his weight, then they waved at the others. Alex snatched the book. 

"You're going to read it?" Michael asked as they made their way down the hall. 

Alex nodded. "You said it's good."

Michael tripped into their bed and squirmed out of his clothes. Alex sat beside him with slightly more restraint, and Michael curled up behind him while he removed his prosthetic. "Would you read to me? Please?"

"I'll try," Alex said, lifting his arm so Michael could tuck himself there. He pressed his lips to Alex's shoulder.

"I'll help. Thank you."

"You'll fall asleep, but you're welcome."

Michael huffed, but Alex was right. He only stayed awake through two acts.

Alex placed the book on the nightstand and turned to gather Michael as close as possible. He cuddled closer in his sleep and mumbled, "Alex."

He kissed his forehead with a smile. "Rest."

Michael's lips quirked up, and he let out a content sigh.

Alex considered The Tempest for a while before he fell asleep, too.

* * *

Isobel eyed the pair of them after dinner. She had a predatory look about her as she shooed everyone else from the kitchen. "Did you two come up with anything? Vows, perhaps?"

"Vows?" Alex repeated.

"We were sleeping," Michael informed her. He poked Alex's arm thoughtfully. "Vows are promises we make each other before getting married."

"Example?"

He turned to Isobel, who crossed her arms. "Maria and I used the usual ones. In sickness and in health, so on and so forth. You want flowery, you'll have to talk to Max. He and Liz wrote theirs."

Alex frowned; he was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to find all the words for what he wanted to promise to Michael.

"There's time," Michael said. "We'll figure it out."

"Well, do so quickly. I need to know how long your vows will go. Especially if you're going first."

"Are we?"

"Again, the rest of us are already married."

"Shouldn't you go before us since you've had practice?" Alex said. 

She tapped her nails on the table as she stood. "Good point. Chronologically, then. Max and Liz first, then Maria and I, then you two. Still, figure out what you want in a timely manner, or I will come up with something for you. You know how I don't like surprises."

"I know," said Michael, "You act like that's a threat, though."

"We'll come up with something, Iz," Alex assured her. "And I'll go see my family tomorrow."

She nodded her approval and left them in the kitchen, so Michael wrapped his arms around Alex, who quickly reached up to pillow his left wrist. "You have an idea?"

"Maybe. How's your hand feel?"

Michael shrugged. "Doesn't really. It's fine. Hardly even hurts anymore."

Alex hummed doubtfully and gently touched the back of his hand, and he winced. 

"All right, it hurts a little, but I promise I'm fine. Tell me your idea."

"I don't think I could write something for you, like Max, but I like the words from that book. The Tempest. Can I use those?"

Michael kissed his cheek. "That sounds perfect. Let's do that. Be the Ferdinand to my Miranda."

"Better. Be the Michael to my Alex," he said.

Michael gave a crooked grin and kissed closer to his lips. "Much better."

* * *

In the morning, it didn't take more than half an hour for Max to pull the lines from the play they wanted to use and tweak them to fit their gender. With Isobel satisfied and Max back to rewriting his own vows, Michael and Alex took a stroll south, to the beach where Alex had originally come ashore. 

They plopped down in the mud, their clothes and Alex's prosthetic abandoned on dry land, and sat side by side for a while. Alex made sure Michael kept his injured hand out of the water.

"What about your parents?" Alex wondered.

Michael bumped his shoulder into Alex's. "Never met my father. He died when we were young. My mother is a traveler. She's in Singapore, or was last I heard. We write letters. I wrote one about you, about us, recently, but she won't receive it for months."

Alex scratched his head. He could have sworn Isobel mentioned wanting their parents present this go around. "Not the same as Max and Isobel's?"

"Same father, different mothers. Except their mom got remarried when we were babies, and they refer to him as their father. Still, the three of us grew up together." Michael frowned and pushed some water away. "I know they want them to show, but they've been busy all our lives. I don't expect that to change now, and I hope Iz and Max don't, either. They didn't come to the first two."

"But they want them to," Alex guessed.

Michael sighed. "Yeah. They're living up in Europe, so it wouldn't be so difficult, at least not as mine. But really, _any_ travel is dangerous, I don't blame them for not risking it."

They each shuddered to think of the worst that could happen. After a moment, Alex said, "But _you_ want your mom?"

"There's not enough time for her to get the letter, let alone get here in time. I always want my mom, Alex, but she can't stay in one place, and I can't leave Max and Iz, and I definitely can't leave you."

Alex turned his head and kissed him shortly. "I am on land because of you. If you wanted to meet up with her, I would come with you."

Michael grinned and slung his arm around Alex's shoulders. "You're the best."

"Be careful," Alex chided, eyeing his injury. He grinned back once he was sure his hand was safe. "I know I am. We're a very good pair."

"I'm careful." Michael kissed Alex's cheek. "You be careful out there, too, all right?"

"Yes," he said, though all he moved to do was rest his head on Michael's shoulder. "Not ready yet. What will you do while I'm talking to them?"

"Mmm, probably annoy Isobel and Maria. If I interrupt Max, he'll get frustrated, and he needs Liz as his muse."

He nodded. "I bet." Alex brushed his fingers along the elbow near his neck. "Does your hand still hurt? Maybe you should see Kyle."

"No," Michael groaned. "We saw him yesterday."

"He didn't check your hand. He only left us another roll of gauze." Alex poked him in the flank. "He's not that bad. You should let him help you."

"I don't want to walk all the way down there just so he can prod at my hand and not do anything useful."

"Michael, please?"

He sniffed and, a moment later, he said, "I'll go when Isobel throws me out."

"Good. Have you tried to play guitar?"

"No, not ready yet."

Alex pressed his hand over Michael's sternum. "I don't want you to lose your peace. I don't know if I could forgive myself."

Michael shifted to rest his forehead against Alex's. "Honestly, you're far more effective than that guitar ever was."

He huffed a breath that made Michael shiver. "I'm glad. I'm glad."

"And you're better, because I'm also _happy_ with you."

"I am too," Alex said; his hands found the lines of Michael's jaw and tilted his face towards his. "I love you."

"I love you, t--"

Alex pulled him in, and they shared a deep kiss, mouths searching and hands roaming. It left them gasping and smiling like excited children in a candy store. 

"I, uh--" They were still close enough that when Michael wet his lips, he caught Alex's, too. "Um, do you want to go back to our room?"

"Want to, yes, after I talk to the others. I won't be long." Alex gave him a quick kiss that made Michael whine. "Don't forget to see Kyle about your hand."

"I'll go as soon as you're out of sight."

Alex patted his cheek reassuringly and took off.

He found his mother and Flint in his former home. As usual, his brother jabbed at his flank, but Alex swam away from him, his tongue stuck out; his mother caught him in a hug, which he returned.

Alex grabbed Flint by the shoulder and shook him, and his big brother pushed him away as their mother answered by jerking her head to the north. 

Flint went inside the structure and returned with a spear of his own. He made to poke Alex with the blunt end, but Alex twisted it out of his grip easily. Flint rolled his eyes, and Alex returned it.

Their mother gathered her sons beside each other and began to explain the ritual, just as their father had explained to their eldest brothers, though she used Flint's spear to demonstrate. 

At the end of her speech, Flint held his hand up for Alex, which he matched, and quickly hugged their mother before taking off for the Mediterranean. 

Alex supposed his brothers wouldn't make the wedding.

His mother, however, waved him inside before he could ask if she would attend, and she led him along to what he and his brothers had always suspected was their father's treasure room. He had forbidden any of them from entering and piled rocks in front of the entryway to prevent them from doing so, but his mother had haphazardly torn them out, and now she casually swam through. Alex followed more cautiously. 

Of course, his father treasured weaponry. Much of it was made by sirens, but some were made by humans, no doubt pilfered from sunken ships. His mother showed him such a pair of swords. He thought they must be decorative despite how sharp they looked due to the fine stones inlaid in the pommels. They seemed to glow, even in the deep dark. 

His mother pressed the pair into his hands. She drew a circle beneath her ribs, then she touched the tip of her fluke. 

He nodded and hardly asked if she wanted to attend the human ceremony on the ship before she was hugging him tightly and combing her claws through his hair.

He traced two crescent moons on her palm to convey the date; Alex then fitted their palms together before he headed back to shore. 

* * *

The return trip was much slower thanks to the pair of blades under Alex's arm. His pile of clothes and prosthetic were as he left it, though he used his shirt to wrap the swords. He put them in their room, grabbed another shirt, and figured that Michael was up at the main building. He went to find Isobel to update her.

She was cuddled up with Maria in the back, the pair of them speaking in low tones. He waved and sat near the door to wait for them to finish.

A few minutes of staring out to sea later, the girls scooted closer, and Isobel greeted him, "Hello, Alex, how'd it go?"

He grinned. "My mom will come here the morning of and join us. My brothers have already gone north. She showed me the siren ritual, and I want to, but I'll ask Michael if he does, too."

"He will," said Maria.

"Of course he will," Isobel agreed flippantly. 

"You think so?"

They exchanged a look. "How do I put this?" Maria said. "Alex, Michael has never been the way he is with you with anyone. Ever."

He shut his eyes with a smile. 

"You two are very, hmm, soft with each other," Isobel said, tapping on her chin. "Like... puppies."

"Puppies?"

"Maybe not puppies," Maria said, leaning over her wife. "Rabbits."

"Rabbits," Alex repeated blankly. 

"God, don't, that's my brother," Isobel said, pushing Maria back. "Tell us about the ritual, Alex."

He described the motions to them and told them about the swords his mother bequeathed him, and they nodded along. 

"That's lovely!" Maria said. "That sounds very nice."

"Agreed. I know he'll say yes, but let me know when he does."

"I will," Alex said. He stood slowly and stretched. "Have you two eaten lunch?"

"Yes, though Michael ought to be back by now, I'm sure he'll keep you company."

"I'm sure," he replied with a smile. He wandered inside and waved at Liz and Max as he passed through to the kitchen. 

"You're back!" he heard as soon as he entered, and he caught Michael around the waist as he hugged him.

"Yes, I am. What did Kyle say about your hand?"

He petted Alex's still-damp hair. "He said it's healing well for what it is. More importantly, he said I can start trying to play guitar again soon."

"Good." Alex kissed his cheek and looked over his shoulder. Michael was cooking, and it smelled delightful. "What are you making?"

"Fried spiced potatoes. Do you want anything else to eat?"

"Eggs," Alex said, extricating himself and heading for the ice box. 

"Good idea." Michael nodded and poured them each a glass of water. 

"What's a rabbit?" Alex asked as he traded the egg carton for the glass.

"Small furry animal with long ears. Why?" He took a long drink.

"Isobel compared us to puppies, then Maria said we're more like rabbits, but--"

Michael sprayed water back into his cup as he coughed, so Alex rubbed his back in concern. 

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, yeah," he said, though he still sounded choked. "What a thing to say! She's calling _us_ rabbits?"

"Is it offensive?"

Michael turned to the frying pan and cracked the eggs. "Rabbits are just well-known for the amount of offspring they produce."

He squinted. "I don't have any offspring. Do you?"

"No, no I do not," Michael said. "Nor have we attempted to produce any together, which I'm sure is what Maria meant by that. Not that we _can_ , but the implication is there." Suddenly, he looked unsure and waved a fork at him. "We-- We can't, right?"

Alex only shrugged, head tilted, amused by his uncertainty. They shared a room; they'd seen each other undressed. For a genius, Michael could really overthink things to the point of ludicrousness. 

"Alex?"

He surveyed his human, torn between teasing him or reassuring him. As he debated, he drew a line up and down his own throat and let Michael sweat about it. 

"What's that mean?"

"Thinking."

"What are you thinking?"

"That you're going to burn the food."

"Oh, right," he replied, quickly turning back to the stove. Michael switched off the gas. "It's ready."

He divided the food between them under Alex's watchful eye. He offered a plate to him. "Thank you," Alex said, heading to the table. He decided to reassure him. "And unless there is something I don't know about humans, we can't."

Michael sat across him with an odd expression. "Good to know."

"What are _you_ thinking?" Alex asked curiously.

"I'm thinking..." He grinned. "I love you."

"I love you, too. What are you actually thinking?"

Michael's smile softened, and he propped his right elbow on the table to rest his chin in his palm. "Us, in more words. The future. That I get to be with you for the rest of my life, and that's the best thing I can think of. Whether it involves fishman babies or not."

"Mermers." Alex smiled back and reached for his wrapped-up hand across the table. "Is it... okay that it doesn't?"

"Any life with you is _better_ than okay," Michael declared. He gave Alex's hand a weak squeeze before he began to eat again. "How is it? Is it good?"

"Yes, you're almost as good a chef as Liz."

"Aw, you sweet talker." They finished their food quickly and Michael took Alex's clear plate before he had the chance. "How were your mom and brothers?"

"My brothers have all gone north to find their own mates. My mother will come to see the wedding. You asked me whether sirens have a ceremony yesterday, but we just have a ritual. She taught it to my brother and I."

"Yeah?"

Alex held out his hand once Michael had tidied up the dishes. "She gave us a gift, come see."

Michael took his hand and let himself be led to their room, where they sat on the bed, and Alex passed the bundled up blades to Michael. 

"This way you don't have to be close to a pike." Alex watched as he solemnly unwrapped the swords. "If you want to do our way, too. I would like if we could, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

Michael reverently put them on the night table. "They're beautiful. I didn't mean-- Alex, yes. I want--" His voice broke as he turned to him, so Alex caught his face between his hands. "I want to protect you, I'll swear it. I want to be yours in every possible way."

He ran his thumb down Michael's cheek to his bottom lip, and his eyes slid shut. "You _are_ mine," Alex said. He could feel the way his lips curled up at the confirmation, and he preferred to feel that with his own. As he did, Michael brought his hands up to tangle in Alex's hair and bring them closer.

A little while later, after they'd migrated to lying down, Michael asked, "Are you tired?" 

"No," Alex replied obstinately, more interested in the curve of Michael's shoulders and how his hands fit along his side just right than the fatigue from changing twice in one day. Unfortunately, thinking of that made him feel it. "Yes."

"Sleep." Michael pulled him close with his arms around his waist. "I've got you."

* * *

Rosa visited frequently, and she and Alex became fast friends. She and Isobel switched off walking with him. This caused tongues to wag across the resort, but Isobel would roll her eyes, and Rosa would hiss at them. 

"As if anyone could live down crossing Isobel," she told him as they ambled back from the ice cream shop arm in arm. 

"She punched the last person to be rude to Maria," he agreed.

Rosa cackled. " _Bueno_. It is kind of you to not inundate me with details of your wedding like the other two couples, but I am curious. Are you happy with the plan?"

"Mostly..." Alex eyed their cabin. "It's just, Michael wants his mother, but she's too far away to make it."

She grinned and bade him lean over so that she could kiss his forehead. "You brought me home. I will bring her. Liz spoke of Max and Isobel's parents, too. I will bring them." She walked past the cabin toward the water.

"How?" Alex wondered. Surely if there wasn't time for her to get the letter, there wasn't time for Rosa to find her and bring her to the resort.

"You didn't call me Sea Witch for nothing, babe." She squatted by the water and jammed her fists in the mud. The water began to glow. Alex watched in fascination. The light receded with the next lap of waves, but Rosa didn't move, her expression one of intense concentration. Finally, after several minutes, she withdrew, though she made no effort to remove the mud from her hands. "Found them."

"What did you--"

Rosa shushed him and oriented herself to the east. Alex watched, bewildered, as she spoke with no sound, using words he barely knew the shape of. She rinsed off her right hand and turned to the northwest, shushing him again before he even said a word. She spoke wordlessly, and then rinsed off her left. 

"They will arrive a few days early. Let's keep it a surprise, shall we?"

"Thank you," Alex said, pulling her into a hug. "They'll be very pleased."

Rosa patted his back. "I should hope so. Walk me to the couch before I keel over, babe."

They sat in the living room and plotted for the next two hours until Arturo visited for (with) dinner.

* * *

Three days before the Grand Triple Wedding, as Isobel had taken to calling it, Michael and Alex were awakened before dawn, Michael by Alex scrambling backwards into him, and Alex by Rosa poking him in the cheek. 

She grinned at their reactions. 

"Who let you in here?" Michael demanded, and he threw his pillow at her, but she ducked. 

"They're almost here," she said to Alex.

"Good," he replied.

"Who's here?" Michael asked sleepily, even as Alex tugged him upright and reached for their clothes. "Alex, it's too early. If someone is calling, they can come back later, like a normal person."

"Rosa's already here," Alex pointed out. 

"Don't say anything of how normal I am," she warned Michael, who held up his hands.

"Trust me?" Alex said. 

He sniffed and nodded, only to lean on Alex's shoulder tiredly. He lamented the loss of his pillow under his breath.

"We'll be a few minutes," Alex said.

Rosa nodded and skipped out of the room.

"She got you a surprise. I know you'll like it. Come on, Michael."

"Is it hair of dog? Eye of newt?" He kissed down Alex's neck to punctuate his words. 

"No, but good guesses. Come on. I think you'll want to be properly dressed."

"Too early for callers," he said petulantly, dropping his head to his shoulder again.

"Trust me, Michael."

"I do. I'll get dressed. I do." He began to pull his clothes on at a speed that, really, was probably the best they could have hoped for. A snail's pace was better than asleep. Alex was dressed and had his leg attached before Michael got his shirt on. "Is it... the Pope?"

He picked up Michael's weaponized pillow and return it to its proper location. "I don't know who that is."

"But you do know who's here?"

"Yes, and you will too." Alex smoothed Michael's shirt shoulders and stood. "Come on."

Still, he was reluctant to get up. "If it's Kyle, I'll just go back to sleep in the middle of the living room floor."

"It's not Kyle." He held out his hands, and Michael took them and let himself be led outside.

There, a wide-awake Rosa hosted an apparent vigil, along with the rest of the far sleepier household. Just as they joined the line, before Michael could ask where exactly their caller was, the hoofbeats and squeaking wheels of a horse-drawn carriage echoed over the cobbles. 

The driver waved at them and halted the horses in front of them, and Rosa rolled back on her heels. Alex excitedly watched the others to gauge their reactions. Isobel and Max lit up as soon as the door opened and a very elegant couple stepped out. 

"Mom! Dad!"

As they hugged, Alex caught Michael with a small smile, so he squeezed his hand, nearly causing him to miss when another woman stepped out; her smile was all he needed to see to know she was Michael's mother, but their hair color and eyes were the same, too. 

Michael went to her immediately for a hug and lifted her off the ground.

As they held conversations meant only for parent and child, Alex went to Rosa and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Thank you."

He was sure her grin would soon split her face. "They really are so pleased."

"I'm fit to burst," Michael said, appearing between them to lift them each in turn. "I'll even forgive you for waking us before the sun."

"I shall think of other unforgivable things," Rosa assured him, turning to join Liz, Max and his mother. Isobel and Maria had their father's attention. 

Michael's mother took Rosa's spot and smiled kindly at Alex. "My son wrote very poetically of you. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alex. I'm Mara."

He bowed his head. "You as well."

"You recovered your voice!" she said. 

"You got my letters?" Michael asked before Alex could attempt to explain.

She pulled back her coat and withdrew two envelopes. "I was already on my way back when Rosa's specter delivered them, as well as fair winds and news of your wedding. I happen to have a gift for you, too."

"I can't think of anything better than you being here for it." Michael leaned into Alex, temple to temple. "For-- For us."

Mara observed them with clear amusement. "Then I'll keep the gift."

Michael held out his hand and said, "Mom," like a whiny child, but Mara grabbed his wrist in alarm. 

"What happened?"

"My dad attacked him," Alex said.

She wrinkled her nose and ran light fingers over her son's bandages.

"I'm fine," Michael said despite pulling his hand away as soon as she traced the cut. 

Mara squinted at him.

"I will be," he amended.

She turned to Alex. "Where's your dad now?"

He jerked his head beyond the cabin. "Bottom of the sea."

Mara blinked, hesitated, and then said, "Good." She hugged both of them. Their hands met on her back. "Ah, my son and my new son-to-be. Congratulations."

They stood like that for a comfortable minute before Michael asked, "Are you staying with us?"

Mara patted his head. "We'll be up at the main building. Wouldn't want to crowd the cabin."

"We'll have to have breakfast all together," Michael said. 

"After you sleep a few more hours," she said knowingly.

"God, yes." He pulled her into one more hug. "See you at breakfast, Mom."

Alex went to bow his head, but she hugged him again, too. "You keep him safe," she whispered. It wasn't a question.

"I try," he said. "I want to."

She squeezed and released him with a smile, only for Michael to grab his hand and unceremoniously lead him back inside so they could go back to sleep.

* * *

Isobel had procured a wheeled chair from somewhere, and Alex sat in it on the dock the morning of their wedding to wait for his mother. Michael sat cross legged on the planks beside him, guitar in his lap, back to Alex's left leg. 

He patiently sang along to Michael's slow procession of chords, which had more and more silence between notes the longer they sat. Just when Alex was going to suggest he give his hand a break, Michael held the guitar up over his head. "Your turn."

He took the instrument gingerly. "You'll sing, then?"

Michael pressed his cheek into Alex's knee. "I'll scare your mother off if I do."

He strummed the strings slowly. "You won't. Go on."

Michael cleared his throat and matched the notes, slightly off-key. He looked up when Alex had to pause to laugh. "I told you, it's bad, especially compared to you."

"You're not me, you're you. I like it. Come, both of us," he said; he poked Michael's thigh with the toe of his boot. 

Alex began to play again, and both of them sang along. Despite Michael's key, they synchronized, and Alex didn't think there was a better sound.

After a while, another higher voice joined them, and they saw Alex's mother resting her head on her arms at the edge of the dock with a toothy grin.

Alex put the guitar aside as Michael offered a hand to help her up, but she easily pulled herself up onto the wood and used the hand to hug him instead. Alex knelt beside them, and she hugged him next.

"Good thing we're not dressed properly yet," Michael joked, wringing his now-soaked shirt to no avail. 

Alex's mother stuck her tongue out at him and hugged her son more tightly. It took her some time to let him go. She nodded to the chair, which had a folded up towel on the seat, a sheet, and a shirt lent by Max and Isobel's mother over the back. 

They helped her into it and smoothed the sheet over her tail once she was settled. Alex offered her the shirt, which amused her, but she put it on nonetheless.

Alex tapped his stomach and touched her wrist. 

His mother shook her head. 

"Not hungry?" Michael confirmed.

"Not," Alex said with a shrug. "Sirens eat much less often than humans."

"You don't."

"I don't eat a quarter of an ibex in one sitting anymore, either."

His mother gave a low laugh, tapping on her head to convey horns. Then she smacked her lips loudly. 

"She had a whole one," Alex explained. "Doesn't have to share for now."

Michael nodded slowly, impressed.

Alex's mother tested the wheels on her chair, and in a moment, she was rolling down the dock toward the back door. She turned her head to look at them over her shoulder and beckoned to them. "Baby," she said. She waved to the door. "Others?"

"Yes, we'll introduce you," Michael said, and he got to the door first to hold it open for her. 

Isobel shouted at them as soon as they entered. "You two are supposed to be-- Oh, hello, sorry. Michael, go help in the kitchen."

He heaved a put-upon sigh, but he kissed Alex goodbye for the time being.

Alex and his mother made their way around the cabin, and he introduced the two sides of his family. Rosa was the only one beside him or Michael to be pulled into a hug and onto her lap, and they communicated wordlessly as Arturo and Liz looked on, bemused. 

Alex was more interested in the snacks that Michael was putting on platters and covering. He bumped their shoulders together and helped him.

"What are these?" he asked, picking up something crispy and popping it in his mouth. 

"Not sure." Michael grinned at him. "What are they, Liz?"

"They're for tonight," she answered distractedly.

"They're good," Alex said, and he wondered how many he'd be able to eat before one of them stopped him. Michael kissed his temple with only a wink and carried off two of the platters.

"Oy, fishboy!" Rosa called. "Those are for tonight!"

He hissed at "fishboy" but put down what would have been his third one. His mother backed him up by poking her in the cheek, so Rosa jumped down. 

"Are you hungry, Alex?" Arturo asked. "Have as many as you want. It's your Big Day, after all."

"No, I'm not hungry," Alex said. "They're just very good. Thank you."

Still, Arturo slipped him one more as he helped with the food. Michael returned, and they bustled around the kitchen that really wasn't meant to hold so many people at once. Before they knew it, Isobel was telling them all to get dressed.

Michael went ahead to their room so that Alex could leave his mother in Rosa's care. She demanded another tight hug before he left.

He found Michael sitting half-dressed on their bed, staring down at the swords in their box. Michael had made it. They were extremely regal resting on dark velvet, or so Michael had told him. 

Alex sat on his other side and got his attention by touching his knee. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to mess it up." Michael looked up. "Oh, god, I'm going to ruin everything."

Alex pulled him into an embrace even though he still wasn't sure why he was upset. He ran his fingers slowly through his curls, previously proven to be soothing. "Why would you do that?"

"I'm going to get up there in front of everyone and in front of your mom and I'm going to do the swords wrong or I'm going to say the wrong lines."

"You didn't when we practiced," Alex said. "Even if you do it wrong, they won't know. They don't know the lines. They don't know the siren ritual."

"You'll know."

"I won't mind." He shrugged. "I'll know what you mean."

"Your mom will know."

"She'll be impressed that you're even trying to do our ritual for me."

" _I'll_ know."

"Hmm. I suppose you will." Alex lowered his head to bump into Michael's. "But you also know that I love you, whether we're married or not, yes?"

"Even if I step on the dhow and forget everything and it's a disaster?"

He held in a laugh. "Yes, even then. But you know Isobel will prevent a disaster like that through the sheer force of her will. Even if she doesn't, the last time we practiced was perfect. If the wedding isn't, we can pretend the practice was it. How's that?"

Michael nodded their heads. 

"Do you want to skip the swords? Would that make you feel better?"

He shook their heads, eyes wide. "No, Alex, I want to! I just don't want to do it wrong."

"I think so long as neither of us stabs the other, it'll be good. Right?"

Michael ducked his head and sat back. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. I got upset over nothing."

"It's not nothing." Alex spread his hand over Michael's cheek, and Michael leaned into his touch. "Not if you're worried about it. Hey." He caught his eyes. Firmly, he said, "We're getting married today."

Michael smiled. "That's good, because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Me too." Alex smiled back. "We could steal the paper and sign it and forget the rest."

Now he laughed, which meant he really was feeling better. "Isobel would kill us."

"That's all it takes. We don't have to do the lines or the swords. Just say you'll feel better if we don't. I don't want you to be upset. I'll even talk to Isobel and ask her not to kill us."

Michael mulled it over for a moment. "I think... I think I'll regret it if we don't."

"Whatever you want."

"What do you want, Alex?"

"You. Our family. More of those crispy things." Michael grinned, so Alex patted his cheek. "If you want to do it, we'd better get dressed."

Michael nodded.

Five minutes later, they boarded the dhow, sword box under Michael's arm. They stashed it beneath the podium, already set up.

Isobel had done the ship up beautifully. There were white roses everywhere that wasn't essential to sailing. She continued to adjust and straighten flowers and silky ribbons even as their guests boarded, to the point that Maria had to pull her away and calm her. 

Michael and Alex sat with Max and Liz and Alex's mother until everyone was present. He got to meet Maria's mother, too. Michael got up to navigate, and his seat was taken over by Rosa. 

It didn't take long for everyone else to migrate to the seating area. Alex kept an eye on Michael, and he excused himself from the surrounding conversations when Michael waved at him about ten minutes after they set sail. 

He pulled Alex into a hug to rival his mother. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." It seemed Michael was after not only a tight hug, but a long one, as well. After a couple minutes of swaying together, he said, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good, I just saw you over there and wanted you all to myself." Michael slowly spun them in a dance. 

"You were lonely over here, hmm?"

"I'm not anymore." He pulled Alex close again, so he wrapped his arms around his waist. Michael buried his face in Alex's neck. "I haven't been since I met you."

"Me neither." He kissed his hair; Michael had put extra cream in it today, of which Alex didn't understand the point, but it smelled good. Maybe that was it. "How far are we from the spot?"

Michael turned away just enough to consider their surroundings. "Hmm, a couple more minutes ought to do it."

"Why here?"

He grinned slyly. "Approximate location of where the last dhow sank."

Alex frowned. His father sank the dhow, and hurt Michael. "Why?"

"It's where we first met! I didn't even think you were real, but I tried to serenade you anyway. Be honest, it worked, didn't it?"

When he put it that way, it was indeed a good spot. "Yes, definitely. The only reason I rescued you was to save your guitar."

"What? No," Michael said. "I charmed you."

Alex rolled his eyes and caught his lips with his own. Then he murmured, "You did. You were already my favorite human. I couldn't even see the guitar from where I was."

Michael laughed a little breathlessly. "You're my favorite siren."

"I would hope so. You've only met three of us and you've known me the longest."

"You're my favorite person," he amended. 

Alex smiled and kissed him again. 

"Michael, are you navigating or making out with Alex?" Isobel demanded from right beside them. Neither of them moved from their embrace despite her sudden appearance.

"I can do both," he grumbled. "We're almost there."

"Great. I'll get Max and Liz situated." She patted each of them on the shoulder and stalked back to the seating area. 

They stood forehead to forehead a few more moments before Michael said, "I suppose I should weigh anchor."

"I suppose."

Still, it took them a few seconds to pull away. Alex waited for Michael, and they went hand in hand to their seats, only to lean on each other again. 

Alex attempted to interpret for his mother, but some of the words Max and Liz used, he didn't know himself, or he couldn't translate. He decided to ask them later. 

Whatever they were saying had Michael smiling and wiping at his eyes with a handkerchief. Alex squeezed his hand, and Michael lifted their hands to kiss the back of Alex's. 

Liz went to sit down beside her sister, and Maria joined the twins at the podium. Max took over as mediator.

Maria and Isobel's vows were much easier to translate. Alex's mother tapped her claws along his arm, grinning. Michael was just as teary. 

Isobel remained at the podium when she and Maria were through, though she was clearly reluctant to let her wife go. Maria and Max passed Michael and Alex on their way up. Isobel pulled their box from beneath the podium. 

"So, Michael and Alex are going to start with a traditional ritual done in Alex's family. Go ahead, you two."

They each drew a sword, and Alex clocked Michael shaking slightly, so he touched his hand gently. 

"I'm okay," he said. His grip tightened, and they stepped away to bow to each other. 

Each of them held the blade out and let them slide along the other. 

There was then a complex twist of the wrist to switch their grips. Alex could easily do it underwater, but Michael had picked it up on land far more quickly than he had.

They both held a hand to the skin beneath their ribs before offering the swords to one another. They accepted. 

Alex caught sight of his mother with a wide smile, her claws folded together in delight. He smiled at her, then whispered to Michael, "Perfect."

"Perfect," he agreed.

They returned the swords to their box, and Isobel stepped up with their papers and set them on the podium along with a pen. "Vows," she instructed.

Alex checked to make sure Michael was all right to continue. 

He gave a slight nod before he began to speak. "I would not wish any companion in the world but you."

"The very instant I saw you did my heart fly to your service." Alex covered his own heart, then Michael's, as if to mimic the flight path.

He held his hand there. "I am your husband if you will marry me."

Neither of them could stop a giggle. They leaned their foreheads together to remind the other to be serious.

"My husband, dearest, and I thus humble ever."

Michael backed away just enough to kiss Alex's forehead. His next words came out positively giddy. "My husband, then?"

Alex smiled brightly. "Aye, with a heart as willing as bondage ever of freedom." He held out his left hand, the one with the ring already on it, toward their (honestly forgotten) spectators. "Here's my hand."

Michael caught him and laced their fingers together. "And mine, with my heart in it."

If they were paying any mind to anyone but themselves, they might have noticed that Max was quietly sobbing on Liz, to the confusion and concern of Alex's mother, or that Mara was beaming at them, or that Isobel was clearly pretending not to be affected. But Michael and Alex had eyes only for each other. 

"Good lord, sign the paper already," Isobel said when her eyes finally started to leak; she rubbed at them as if they'd betrayed her. She signed her own name as their witness. "We're meant to get the food out now."

They passed the pen back and forth without releasing each other's hands. 

"There. You're married. Now kiss."

Alex tossed the pen down, and Michael pressed up against him on his toes for their first married kiss, oblivious to the whooping of their audience. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S OVER BABES  
> 😘  
> So basically I know the whole beard thing is on account of people being assholes but actually... There aren't that many. Hence their whole big family. And really, the seven or so butt heads at the resort really wouldn't have that much push anyway. They're all just...really really dramatic lmao.  
> The stones in the swords are Labradorite. Which is pretty. Definitely no deeper meaning or I would have let Maria look at them and go "wow a stone with protective energies! Cool beans guys"  
> As for Rosa, well, Isobel had nothing to do with it, twas Kate and Jasmine. Her curse worked well. You'll notice they aren't even in the story. They're dead, natural causes. Whomp whomp. Aaand Rosa is bi ace bc I say so. *shrug emoji*


End file.
